Ewha Flourishing with Continued Firsts
- Date2023.07.24
- 4900
Professor Emeritus Hahm Jeong Hee of the College of Medicine (Ewha graduate in medicine, 1969) donated a developmental fund for the College of Medicine and delivered a supportive and encouraging message to current students and to graduates whom she taught. Since 1969, Professor Hahm has continued to donate development funds to the College of Medicine, the Ewha Medical Center, and the Department of Dermatology, and cherished her love for her alma mater and the graduates she instructed.
(From left) Professor Roh Joo young of Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, Professor Emeritus Hahm Jeong Hee, and Dean Eun-Hee Ha of the College of Medicine
In the 1970s, a time when female professors were rare anywhere in Korea, let alone in medical schools, Professor Hahm Jeong Hee was appointed as the first dermatology professor among the graduates of Ewha College of Medicine. Starting work as a professor after graduating from Ewha under difficult conditions, Professor Hahm always tried to keep a mindset she described as of “I have to do better because I am the first.”
“During my school days from Ewha Middle School and High School to University, I was told many times about Po Goo Nyo Goan, which was the basis for the Ewha Medical Center, and Dr. Kim Jeom-dong (Dr. Esther Park), who was the first female doctor trained there. Po Goo Nyo Goan and Dr. Kim Jeom-dong are extraordinarily meaningful since the former was the first institute dedicated to women’s health care and women’s medical education in Korea and the latter was the first fruit of this first institute. As another first as a dermatology professor, I determined to pave the way for the second, third, and more.”
Thanks in great part to Professor Hahm’s determination and devotion, the Ewha College of Medicine Dermatology (which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year) currently has five female professors and is leading the development of the Ewha College of Medicine, including the Department of Dermatology.
Professor Hahm, who is continuing to support the Ewha College of Medicine and Ewha Medical Center as a professor and a donor, visited her alma mater and conveyed her feelings through a gift in memory of her recently deceased mother. Coincidentally, Professor Eun-Hee Ha (Ewha graduate in medicine, 1987), whose advisor was Professor Halm, currently serves as Dean of the College of Medicine, which makes the relationship all the more special. Hahm also expressed a wish, saying “Through this small donation that I made in memory of my parents who raised me, I hope that a base can be established for more outstanding persons from Ewha to enter into and actively work in the medical world.”