BIOGRAPHY

Professor Kyu-Chang Wang: President of the ISPN, 2012–2013

Seung-Ki Kim

Received: 25 March 2014 /Accepted: 19 May 2014# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Whenmymentor Kyu-ChangWang (Fig. 1) askedme towritehis biography last autumn, I was initially taken aback becausewriting someone’s biography is something that I had neverdone before. Because I have great admiration for Kyu-ChangWang, I definitely needed time to think before I said yes.However, it did not take long before I agreed to do it. I decidedto write his biography for two reasons. First, Kyu-ChangWang’s story is well worth telling, not only because he is ahighly acclaimed, prominent scholar but also because, for me,he is a spiritual leader. He is the pediatric neurosurgeon whohas shown me the profound words of Bach, the victoriouslaughter of Mozart, and the intense fire of Beethoven. Second,I have had the privilege of sharing a close relationship withhim for a long time, and the impact he has had on my careerand on me personally over the years has been truly amazing. Iam quite honored and excited to share the life of Kyu-ChangWang.

Kyu-Chang Wang was born in Seoul, Korea, on No-vember 1, 1954, as the youngest of three children. Hisfamily name “Wang” has its origin in the Goryeo dynasty,the second to the last dynasty in Korea. The word “Ko-rea” (many can see the resemblance) comes from“Goryeo.” Kyu-Chang’s father was a businessman andlater became the president of a company affiliated withthe Tongyang Group, one of the largest cement-producingcompanies at the time. His mother was an elementaryschool teacher. His birthplace is an old town namedSogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, near Kyungbok Palace. He en-rolled in Kyunggi High School, which was one of themost competitive and prestigious schools at the time. In

Korea, high school students could choose from two aca-demic paths: liberal arts or science. Kyu-Chang chose thescience program, which was a very brave decision tomake because his father had always wanted his son tobecome a businessperson or a diplomat. His older brotherstudied business at Seoul National University, as theirfather had wished, but dropped out of the School ofBusiness and entered the College of Medicine after retak-ing the college entrance exam. His brother ended up as aninternal medicine practitioner in New Jersey, USA. Kyu-Chang had some conflicts with his father regarding hisdecision to choose the science program. Fortunately, how-ever, this father-son conflict was resolved by his oldersister, who was the apple of their father’s eye. In fact,his father, who was a successful businessman, influencedhis decision. Kyu-Chang did not like the dog-eat-dogbusiness world where people act according to businessprinciples rather than out of the goodness of their hearts.Furthermore, the subjects in school that he was bothpassionate for and talented at were mathematics and phys-ics, and this passion and talent formed the basis for hisdecision to go to medical school. Kyu-Chang was a modelstudent who excelled in almost every subject. His biggestpassion was athletics, although he was not cut out for it.He also loved music, even though he had little talent forplaying instruments. He played the piano a little and wasfairly good with the guitar, but he had to give up furtherstudy because it took too much of his time, which wassupposed to go toward studying other major subjects. Heenjoyed spending a lot of time at temples when he was inhis second year of high school. The time that he spent atthe temples was so memorable for him that he still re-members those stars at night, the crisp air, the clean water,the candlelight, the smell of the temple, the prayer atdawn, the firewood, climbing the rocky mountain, andthe time studying, as if he were there just yesterday.

S.<K. Kim (*)Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Seoul National UniversityChildren’s Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine,101 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-744, Republic of Koreae-mail: nsthomas@snu.ac.kr

Childs Nerv Syst (2014) 30:1775–1781DOI 10.1007/s00381-014-2445-0

When he was a senior, he served as student body presi-dent. Although he was physically weak during his highschool years, he earned others’ respect with his integrityand academic excellence, which were illustrated by aperfect attendance record and superb grades. Just beforetaking the preliminary college examination, however, hesuffered from glomerulonephritis. Almost everyone advisedhim to give up on the examination and rest. However, hepersevered, took the examination, and was eventually admittedto Seoul National University, College of Medicine with honors.

During college, Kyu-Chang Wang pursued his inter-ests in music, theater, and soccer. He played the oboe inthe Medical Orchestra and joined the theater club and asoccer club. He played the “Concerto for Violin andOboe” by Bach in a musical contest for non-musicmajor students. After winning his first major competi-tion, Kyu-Chang was invited by Bong-Cho Jeon, theDean of the College of Music, to enroll in the Collegeof Music as a special student. While he was working asa stage director in the theater club, he met Eun-MiJung, a talented actress and a junior medical student1 year younger. They married in 1981 while Kyu-Chang was in his second year of residency in theDepartment of Neurosurgery. Eun-Mi Jung is a sensitiveand calm woman, but in the rare event of an argument,she always wins. She is now a radiologist. Eight yearsafter they married, they gave birth to a son, Tae-HoWang (Fig. 2). Tae-Ho, just like his own father, was nota huge fan of his parents’ job; he graduated from the

Department of Mathematical Sciences, Korea AdvancedInstitute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and be-came an analyst for Samsung Securities. As much asKyu-Chang was interested in a variety of extracurricularactivities, he maintained a high academic performanceand graduated in 1979 and received the Dean’s Award,the second highest honor. When he became the Dean ofthe College of Medicine at Seoul National University,he presented the award at the graduation ceremony thathe had won 23 years prior. At the time, Kyu-Changhumorously said “Well, I received this very award whenI was graduating. Congratulations.”

After Kyu-Chang Wang completed his internship andresident training at Seoul National University Hospital,as well as the 3 years of military service, which isrequired of all young men in Korea, the time came forhim to choose his subspecialty. One day, Professor Bo-Sung Sim (Fig. 3), the founder of the Department ofNeurosurgery at Seoul National University Hospital,asked him “What do you think about pediatric neuro-surgery?” Pediatric neurosurgery would not have beenKyu-Chang’s first choice, as he had more interest invascular, tumor, and stereotactic neurosurgery. However,he soon changed his mind and decided to choose pedi-atric neurosurgery as his subspecialty for several rea-sons. First, Kyu-Chang did not want to disappoint Pro-fessor Sim, who had made the suggestion to him. Sec-ond, Kyu-Chang knew that it would be a great learningexperience to work with someone he wholeheartedlyadmired, such as Professor Byung-Kyu Cho (Fig. 3).In addition, he did not mind researching pediatric neu-rosurgery as long as the focus was not on congenitallesions. Rather, brain tumors, hydrocephalus, andmoyamoya disease were more appealing to Kyu-Chang. Most importantly, he knew that pediatric neuro-surgery would give him opportunities to cure children,which would be meaningful. Kyu-Chang’s decision tofocus on pediatric neurosurgery under Professor Cho

Fig. 2 Family tour in Turkey, 2012. From left, Eun-Mi Jung (wife), Tae-HoWang (son), and Kyu-ChangWang. In Korea, a woman does not needto change her surname to her husband’s after marriage

Fig. 1 Portrait of Kyu-Chang Wang

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turned out to be a critical turning point in his life. Whatmakes Kyu-Chang even more outstanding is that hebecame a professor without working as a fellow trainee,which is a typical stepping stone before one reaches theposition. After he was discharged from the military, heworked for 4 months without pay until he wasappointed. During this 4-month period, he put all ofhis energy into research. In 1987, he became a memberof the faculty of the Department of Neurosurgery in theCollege of Medicine at Seoul National University.

In 1990, Kyu-Chang Wang had to choose his sub-subspecialty before leaving for the USA to study for 2 years.Initially, he considered pediatric brain tumors because, at thattime, there had been remarkable achievements in the researchon pediatric brain tumors, especially for cases involving me-dulloblastoma, craniopharyngioma, pineal tumor, and germcell tumors. In addition, interest was growing significantly intumor molecular biology and culture technique. However, incontrast, the reality of congenital anomalies was somewhatdepressing, given the problems of long-term residual deficitseven after adequate treatment, the prolonged course of obser-vation with complications for many organ systems, and thelack of surgical specimens for basic research when comparedwith tumor surgery. One day, Professor Byung-Kyu Cho,Kyu-Chang’s supervisor and the founder of the Division ofPediatric Neurosurgery at Seoul National University Chil-dren’s Hospital, told Kyu-Chang to go to Chicago to studycongenital anomalies, saying “Brain tumors can be studied byany adult neurosurgeon, but the congenital lesions must bedealt with by pediatric neurosurgeons. We should prioritizestudying congenital anomalies.” Kyu-Chang Wang was soconvinced by his words that he chose congenital lesions ashis sub-subspecialty and left Korea for Chicago (Fig. 4). From1990 to 1992, Kyu-Chang Wang worked as a research fellowunder the guidance of Dr. David G. McLone at Children’sMemorial Hospital in Chicago. He observed clinical activities

in pediatric neurosurgery, including a spina bifida clinic and acamp program. He also took an active part in thelaboratory research of open neural tube defect, Chiarimalformation, and hydrocephalus.

When he returned to Korea, in 1993, he started a spinabifida clinic and collaborated in clinical and laboratory activ-ities. At the spina bifida clinic, a patient could visit multipledepartments and take radiological examinations all in 1 day.Each department was allocated its own room, and a patientcould move to the different rooms of each department asneeded. He also published a brochure to provide new visitorswith detailed information about spina bifida. Furthermore, heinaugurated lectures for parents, released informational news-letters, and hosted camps. The spina bifida campwas designednot only to share basic knowledge and information but also tohelp provide encouragement, sympathy, and comfort to pa-tients and parents over the course of 3 days. He found theseactivities quite rewarding and fulfilling because he could seepeople actually being healed and inspired. In retrospect, Kyu-

Fig. 3 Professor Bo Sung Sim(1924–2001) and ProfessorByung-Kyu Cho. Professor BoSung Sim (left), Kyu-Chang’s bigboss and the founder of theDepartment of Neurosurgery atthe Seoul National UniversityHospital, suggested to Kyu-Chang that he specialize inpediatric neurosurgery. ProfessorByung-Kyu Cho (right), Kyu-Chang’s boss and the founder ofthe Division of PediatricNeurosurgery at Seoul NationalUniversity Children’s Hospital,suggested to Kyu-Chang that hestudy congenital anomalies

Fig. 4 Kyu-Chang Wang at Gimpo International Airport leaving on ajourney to the USA in 1990. His colleagues from the Department ofNeurosurgery at Seoul National University Hospital came to give him asend-off (clockwise from top left: Young Seob Chung, Jin Myung Jung,Hee-Won Jung, Kyung Soo Min, Hyun-Jib Kim, Byung-Kyu Cho, KilSoo Choi, Kyu-Chang Wang, Jeong Hoon Kim, Sun Ho Lee, Jong-SooKim, Sun Ha Paek, and Eun-Sang Kim)

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Chang is confident that his choice of congenital anomaly ashis sub-subspecialty was worth it.

In 1998, Kyu-Chang Wang was appointed Director of theDepartment of Research Planning and Management, ClinicalResearch Institute (now renamed as the Biomedical ResearchInstitute) at Seoul National University Hospital. He then be-came actively involved in laying the groundwork for theClinical Research Institute and ensuring the stable operationof the institute. In 2002, he becameDirector of the Departmentof Education and Training at Seoul National University Hos-pital. His many achievements include residents’ open recruit-ment to non-Seoul National University College of Medicinegraduates, the establishment of public space ownership for anight duty room and conference room in the hospital, thecreation of an intravenous sampler, and efforts to reduce theduration of the residents’ assigned work in affiliated hospitals.He initiated the opening of the Medical Research Collaborat-ing Center (MRCC) to provide high-quality research servicesand education and to serve as a coordinating center for large-scale multicenter clinical trials and epidemiologic studies. Healso played an important role in the opening of the SeoulNational University Bundang Hospital.

In 2004, Kyu-Chang Wang was elected the Dean of theSeoul National University College of Medicine through thedirect vote of all professors (Fig. 5). He was the youngest deanever elected in the history of the Seoul National UniversityCollege of Medicine. While some professors expressed con-cerns over Kyu-Chang’s service in such a position with enor-mous responsibilities given his relatively young age, heshowed outstanding leadership and successfully accom-plished daunting tasks. He endeavored to cultivate harmoni-ous relations among the College ofMedicine and Hospital, thealumni association, other medical colleges, and among pro-fessors, and he ensured that the members of the College ofMedicine could perform at their best by trying to boost mo-rale. All in all, the focus of his effort was to keep modernizingthe school facilities and their operations. Kyu-Chang alsoworked to diversify the source of grants and donations. The

mission, vision, and core values of the Seoul National Uni-versity College of Medicine were mapped out and formulatedby Kyu-Chang. The mission of the Seoul National UniversityCollege of Medicine has become “To make the list of theworld’s twenty best medical schools by 2017.” Additionally,recording the history of the College of Medicine was anothertask Kyu-Chang has wished to accomplish. In 2005, Korea’sthen President Moo-Hyun Roh and Seoul National Universitywere in sharp conflict regarding the closure of Seoul NationalUniversity. The Ministry of Education and Human ResourcesDevelopment pushed forth the adoption of a medical graduateschool in an attempt to reduce the stress of entering medicalschool and eventually alleviate a competitiveness that hadbecome overheated. However, such a measure would havebeen nothing more than a stopgap that would have producedan even more chaotic situation. Therefore, Dean Kyu-ChangWang and the Seoul National University College of Medicinestood up against the government. After much struggle andconflict, the government eventually abandoned its originalstance and compromised, deciding to resume the discussionof the physician manpower development system again in2010. The government also agreed to establish a committeeof medical and dental science development. Meanwhile, ma-jor medical schools decided to accept the idea to test-run anadministration system that allowed for the selection of half ofthe students from medical schools and the other half frommedical graduate schools. Then, in 2010, most medicalschools in Korea decided to abolish the medical graduateschool system and revert to the conventional medical collegesystem. Dean Kyu-Chang Wang also brought about the so-called public space ownership system, through which the useof certain spaces as meeting rooms came to be managed andsupervised by the medical school, not by individual depart-ments, which had been considered less effective. During histerm, he strived to secure as much space as possible byassisting in the establishment of the Biomedical ScienceBuilding, the Wide River Institute of Immunology, and therenovation of the annex building. He also made significantcontribution that took the actual roles and functions of KoreanAssociation of Medical Colleges (KMAC) to the next level.After he finished his 2-year term, he was reappointed after aconfidence vote with overwhelming faculty support.

The 38th Annual Meeting of the International Society forPediatric Neurosurgery (ISPN) was held at Jeju Island, SouthKorea, from October 30 to November 4, 2010. It was thesecond ISPN meeting ever held in Korea and the first sincethe 19th Annual Meeting of ISPN in Seoul in 1991. Kyu-Chang was the ISPN 2010 Meeting Chairman and preparedthe agenda of academic and social programs for the confer-ence (Fig. 6). He ensured that participants were updated withcutting-edge knowledge in various fields of pediatric neuro-surgery and were able to share their clinical experience. Fur-thermore, Kyu-Chang hoped the meeting could offer

Fig. 5 In 2004, Kyu-Chang Wang was elected the Dean of the SeoulNational University College of Medicine (SNUCM) by direct vote of theentire faculty. He was the youngest elected Dean in the history ofSNUCM. During his term, he showed youthful leadership

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opportunities for society members to make new acquain-tances. The proceedings of the meeting went on to be usedto train young neurosurgeons from developing countriesthrough the ISPN-Korean Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery(KSPN) fellowship training programs. In doing so, he wishedto return the gifts that Korea had received from the world andgive back to human society.

In 2012 at ISPN’s Sydney meeting, Kyu-ChangWang was inaugurated as ISPN’s 42nd president(Fig. 7). In his term, the primary tasks were the aca-demic and educational activities of the ISPN. As theseareas were already well established, he promoted theimprovement of the operation system of the ISPN,including introducing a standard operating procedure(SOP) system, releasing a newsletter, establishingsmooth communication among board members, andcreating democratic feedback. He finished organizingthe core professional convention organizer (PCO). Hewas interested in recording the history of the ISPN.Kyu-Chang’s dedication to leadership and responsibilityhas been seen on many occasions, including the so-called Shanghai Crisis. The 43rd ISPN meeting initially

was to be held in Shanghai. However, conflict loomedas the ISPN 2015 Chinese Organizing Committee stat-ed that “Taiwan” should be addressed as “Taiwan,China” and “Hong Kong” as “Hong Kong, China” onthe ISPN webpage as a prerequisite for holding theISPN 2015 Shanghai meeting. This precondition metwith strong opposition from ISPN members. In aneffort to overcome this dilemma, Kyu-Chang collecteddiverse perspectives on the issue and tried to find analternative solution through negotiation. However, itremains to be seen whether the ISPN 2015 meetingwill be held in Shanghai.

At Seoul National University Children’s Hospital,Kyu-Chang Wang has regularly mentored medical andundergraduate students, residents, and fellows in clinicalinquiry and publication. All papers from the Division ofPediatric Neurosurgery must pass his academic and veryrigorous review to survive. This review process is con-sidered to be more difficult than that of the editorialboard of any journal. Contrary to his strict academicattitude, he is generous and humorous in private. Thischaracter makes him one of the most respected teachersamong the students. He has been regularly invited toserve as a visiting professor and as a guest lecturer bothnationally and internationally. He has taken a majorinterest in the international education of neurosurgeonsin the field of pediatric neurosurgery. After ISPN 2010Jeju, he launched the ISPN-KSPN international fellow-ship program. He actively participates in ISPN educa-tional courses as a lecturer.

Kyu-Chang Wang has been recognized for his excel-lence in clinical and translational neurosurgery. Hismain interest is basic research on the spinal open neuraltube defect and the application of stem cell therapy. Headopted a chick embryo surgical model and has pub-lished many scientific articles on this subject. He andDr. Dachling Pang are best friends and the experts inthis field (Fig. 8). Although his sub-subspecialty is“congenital lesions,” his clinical area has broadened toinclude brain tumors, moyamoya disease, endoscopicsurgery, and functional surgery. Based on his surgicalexperience, Kyu-Chang proposed a novel classificationof craniopharyngioma into three categories according tothe level of origin and the competence of the diaphragmsellae: a tumor of subdiaphragmatic origin with compe-tent diaphragm sellae, subdiaphragmatic with incompe-tent diaphragm sellae, and supradiaphragmatic. Thisclassification system is very informative and useful forchoosing surgical approaches such as transcranial andtranssphenoidal. Kyu-Chang Wang and his colleagueshave also developed and described surgical techniquesand translational research for moyamoya disease.Thanks to another significant achievement of his, it is

Fig. 6 ISPN’s 38th Annual Meeting was held at Jeju Island, Korea, in2010. Kyu-Chang Wang was the president of the Congress and playedhost to ISPN members in a variety of academic and social programs,demonstrating Korea’s unique hospitality

Fig. 7 Kyu-Chang Wang takes over the pancho from the outgoingpresident of ISPN, Dr. Tadanori Tomita, his predecessor. Here in Sydney,in 2012, he became the 42nd president of the ISPN

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now possible to collect tissue samples at the PediatricBrain Tissue Bank, the establishment of which wasproposed by Kyu-Chang.

As a clinician, Kyu-Chang Wang is widely known tobe a prudent strategist. He always ensures that thesurgical plans are set before operation. These plansinclude deciding not only how to approach the lesionand what to do but also when to stop (Fig. 9). Hismeticulous planning and strategic execution make hissurgery nothing less than an art form.

The Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery was openedas an independent session from the Department of Neu-rosurgery in 1982 (Fig. 10). Since 2008, the Division ofPediatric Neurosurgery has been upgraded to the Pedi-atric Clinical Neuroscience Center (PCNC), Seoul Na-tional University Children’s Hospital, in collaborationwith the Department of Pediatric Neurology, PediatricNeurosurgery and Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine(Fig. 11). The core values of this center are best care, excel-lence, innovation, contribution, and partnership. This centeraims to achieve the most advanced level of practice, agree-ment between basic science and clinical research, and

innovative educational program to fulfill its core values forpediatric patients with neurologic problems.

Kyu-Chang Wang is not only an excellent educator,researcher, and clinician but also a highly talented andefficient administrator. Kyu-Chang led the Seoul Nation-al University College of Medicine over 4 years. Hisleadership deeply moved the members of the Collegeof Medicine. As the youngest elected dean, he showedyouthful ambition and a strong capacity for execution.He never yielded to the government’s unreasonable de-mands. Many colleagues around him are pushing Kyu-Chang Wang to lead Seoul National University as apresident. However, he has a different idea for his life.He would like to begin accomplishing the goals on hisbucket list, which include creating a comprehensivesummary of the clinical cases he has experienced,

Fig. 9 Spinal anomaly operation performed by Kyu-Chang Wang. Al-though he initially declined to specialize in pediatric neurosurgery orcongenital lesions, caring for children with congenital anomalies becamehis true calling

Fig. 10 The Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery was established at SeoulNational University Hospital in September 1982. Over 30 years, thedivision has established and upgraded its clinic, education, and researchpotential. Members of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery took thisphotograph to celebrate their 30th anniversary (clockwise from top left:JungWon Choi, Tae Hee Kang, Myung Sook Lee, Hyun Hwa Kim, JangMi Lim, Young Hee Kim, Mi Sun Park, Seul Ki Ryu, Ji Hoon Phi,Byung-Kyu Cho, Kyu-Chang Wang, Seung-Ki Kim, and Ji Yeoun Lee)

Fig. 11 The Pediatric Clinical Neuroscience Center was opened at theSeoul National University Children’s Hospital in 2008. This center iscomposed of pediatric neurology, pediatric neurosurgery, and pediatricrehabilitation medicine. They provide integrated medical service andpursue innovative research for children with neurological disease(clockwise from top left: Byung Chan Lim, Jong Hee Chae, MoonSuk Bang, Seung-Ki Kim, Ji Hoon Phi, Kyu-Chang Wang, Yong-SeungHwang, and Ki Joong Kim)

Fig. 8 Kyu-Chang Wang visited Dr. Dachling Pang’s institute in 2009.He observed Dr. Pang’s radical surgery for lumbosacral lipoma. Dr. Pangintroduced the 42nd President Kyu-Chang Wang before his presidentialaddress in Mainz, 2013

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including his own personal opinions. The list also in-cludes writing essays and his autobiography, expressing

his heartfelt gratitude to those he admires and cherishes,as well as to those to whom he owes so much. He isalso excited to spend more time playing musical instru-ments, such as the oboe or piano, and he would love toimmerse himself in music and relax. Sports, such asmarathon running (Fig. 12), have been in his mind fora long time, along with learning foreign languages andembarking on a voyage.

Kyu-Chang Wang is undoubtedly a powerful manwho should fear no enemy. However, what makes himtruly the man is his ability to make friends with peoplefrom all walks of life, even including his enemy. Otherthan all those great qualities that have made him whathe is today, what strikes the deepest chord in our heartsis what he said when he was asked to leave a messagefor his younger students.

You don’t need to be the first place winner all the time toprove your excellence; you only have to prove it toyourself, living up to or beyond the standards you setfor yourself. There is nothing wrong with having a less-than-specific goal, as long as the goals you set are forboth the present and the future. Be careful not to hurtother people’s feelings, even inadvertently. Try to pursuea happy and rewarding life where you find yourselfsharing happiness with others.

Acknowledgments I deeply appreciate Bo-Young Lee and Eui JoonKim for the English editing of this article.

Fig. 12 Kyu-Chang Wang is an avid marathoner. He says what makesmarathons so special is that they do not require brains or money. He lovesthe sport because it gives him the opportunity to enjoy beautiful scenery,listen to music, and put his thoughts together, all at the same time

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