Professor Soon Ho Nam, a dear colleague and teacher of our medical community passed away on August 30, 2015, at the age of 62.
Soon Ho Nam was born in Daegu, Korea on June 6, 1953. He attended Yonsei University College of Medicine and graduated in 1977. After completing his residency at the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine of Severance Hospital, he became part of the faculty at Severance in 1984.
Professor Nam began his career as a specialist in cardiovascular anesthesia, and was a pioneer in the field of transplantation anesthesia. He laid the foundation for liver transplantation anesthesia at Severance Hospital, and on July 7, 1996, the first braindeath donor liver transplantation was performed there. Because of Professor Soon Ho Nam's pioneering work in this field, hundreds of liver transplantations have been successfully performed at Severance Hospital since the 1990s, none of which would have been possible without his wealth of experience and knowledge. Professor Nam also went on to supervise the first liver transplant surgeries of Gangnam Severance Hospital, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital and Bundang Cha Medical Center. Being committed to sharing his academic knowledge with colleagues and bettering the anesthesia protocol for organ transplantation surgery, he published the Transplantation Protocol booklet in 2007 and founded the Severance Liver Transplantation Anesthesia Research Group in 2013.
One of Professor Nam's biggest achievements was the work he did for the Korean Journal of Anesthesiology (KJA). He first started his work as assistant administrator of the editorial board in 2003, and served as editor in chief for 3 years starting in 2005. During those 3 years, he took a leadership role in improving the standards of the KJA, and was determined to make it into an international academic journal. After two years of hard work, the KJA homepage opened in English in July of 2009 (http://ekja.org), and its first issue in English was published in January of 2010 (Volume 58, Issue 1). He also introduced the DOI system and XML to the KJA for international standardization. Because of this change, the KJA has been indexed by PubMed, PubMed Central and SCOPUS since 2010. This made it possible to share the journal with clinicians and researchers all over the world. Despite his busy schedule as a clinician and teacher, he was known for never missing a meeting, seminar or conference that was involved with the future of the KJA. He would hold workshops and seminars for fellow anesthesiologists and encourage them to participate as editorial advisers and reviewers. When it came to the improvement of the KJA, Professor Nam was not hesitant to reach out to experts in all fields of medicine for advice. The relentless effort and dedication that Professor Nam showed us in this process was extraordinary, and if not for his strong commitment, the KJA would not be what it is today. We will continue to follow in his footsteps and keep on working in honor of him to take the KJA to another level.
Professor Nam's colleagues remember him as warm, generous, and always humble. A truly genuine person, his goodness would affect those in his company. Amidst all the tension and stress that would arise in the operating room, his leadership, calmness and sense of humor helped the team perform at their best. Those of us that have been blessed with the opportunity to work with, and learn from him, will know that we are a better person for knowing him.
Even during his last months while battling cancer, he selflessly worked around the clock at the operating room and attended research meetings and conferences. By donating his body to Yonsei University College of Medicine, he dedicated his life, to the very end, to teaching students and improving modern medicine.
While his absence is an irreparable loss to the Korean Society of Anesthesiology, we will honor his memory and wishes by carrying on the work of our Society and the KJA.
May his soul rest in peace and may God console his family.
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