No abstract

It has been forty years of the establishment of Korean Academy of Medical Sciences. It has started with the members of 34 academies in October 6, 1976 and now reaches to the number of 138. It takes the role of the main organization among medical academies has increasingly been growing in the volume and the business. We can say a lot of things that has lead the growth of Korean Academy of Medical Sciences but the most noticeable dynamic power of leading Korean Academy of Medical Sciences in last 40 years is due to the people who has the strong leadership and a large contribution. Many staffs and the committees have dedicated their time to Korean Academy of Medical Sciences. The record says the total of 691 medical scientists have served as the staff and the committee. We believe that it was impossible to execute so many works without their dedication because of the insufficiency of finances in last 40 years. Looking back upon the history of last 40 years, we sometime had necessity of the strong charisma of leadership and there is a right person who has met the needs of the times. His name is Munho Lee who served as a president in 22 years. It is singular in the history of Korean Academy of Medical Sciences. We believe that we are so lucky that we has a person like him who was admired by a lot of people in spite of his long-term seizure of the position. Our medical science has advanced to the world-class level, which means it gives us an assignment different from the past. Our society of medical scientists now has to step out for the leading the medical society of the world. We should not be satisfied with the increasing numbers of SCI dissertation. We also are responsible for producing people who can take that role of leaders.