Respiratory disease expert named new KCDC chief

Jung Ki-suck

By Lee Kyung-min

Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital President Jung Ki-suck has been named the new head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), Cheong Wa Dae said, Tuesday.

Jung, 58, is the first appointee following the position’s promotion to the vice-ministerial level last year following public criticism that the agency should play a bigger role in preventing infectious diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that swept the country last year and killed 38.

He will succeed former head Yang Byung-guk, for whom the Board of Audit and Inspection recommended dismissal for failing to contain the MERS outbreak.

“Jung has abundant experience in treatment and clinical studies, so we believe he is qualified to upgrade the nation’s disease prevention and control system, especially against infectious diseases including MERS and Zika virus,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Jung Youn-kuk said.

The spokesman said Jung has long led the Hallym hospital, possessing a talent for managing organizations.

A respiratory disease expert, Jung is known for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as bronchial asthma and pulmonary infections.

When the nation was hit by MERS and in 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), another viral respiratory illness, Jung treated a large number of patients with efforts to identify the mechanism of airborne viruses that transmit lung diseases when breathed in.

He has also served as chair of the guideline control committee of the Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases and the education committee of the Korean Academy of Internal Medicine.

He has participated in more than 30 global and domestic clinical trials on pulmonary medicine, publishing more than 160 papers on the topic since 1990.

“I’ll try to enhance the KCDC’s emergency response capability, so that it can gain public trust,” Jung said.