• ▲ Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center examines the infant patient following the living donor liver transplantation procedure at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital (BTCH).

From May 10 to 11, the team led by Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center performed a live demonstration of living donor liver transplantation at the Korea-China Liver Transplantation Symposium held at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital (BTCH) in China. The surgery was a reoperation on a six-month-old infant from China who had previously undergone Kasai surgery for biliary atresia. The donor liver resection using a minimally invasive 10cm incision was led by Professors Dong-Hwan Jung and Young-In Yoon, while the recipient surgery was performed by Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee and Professor Deok-Bog Moon. The nine-hour surgery was livestreamed online and received significant attention, with over 20,000 liver transplantation specialists tuning in simultaneously. Later at the symposium, Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee gave a lecture on the achievements of living donor liver transplantation, followed by presentations from Professors Dong-Hwan Jung and Young-In Yoon of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, and Professor Kyung Mo Kim from the Department of Pediatrics at Asan Medical Center.

Meanwhile, Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee delivered a lecture to medical students at the School of Clinical Medicine at Tsinghua University in China on May 12. He was appointed as a distinguished visiting professor there in 2023. He shared insights on the expertise of Asan Medical Center in achieving 9,000 liver transplantation, the first such milestone at a single medical institution worldwide, along with his passion and philosophy on liver transplantation and the importance of dedication and immersive learning for young medical professionals.