Professor SEO Kyungsuk

Professor Suh Kyungsuk (College of Medicine) shared his story of saving a high school girl with congenital biliary atresia in 1999 and later helping her give birth to a son in 2014 in an interview with DongA Ilbo. Ms. KWON Soo Kyung was a high school junior when she received a liver transplant from her brother. Her internal organs were stuck together as she had been suffering from biliary atresia since birth, and Professor Suh performed a twelve-hour-long operation on her. Fifteen years later, Ms. Kwon revisited Professor Suh after conceiving a child. Patients who have received a liver transplant rarely give birth as their immunosuppressant drugs can negatively impact the fetus. Professor Suh successfully established a precedent on the safety of a liver transplant patient’s pregnancy. Ms. Kwon gave birth to a healthy boy and she still visits Professor Suh with her son. “I feel my job is worthwhile when I see patients who were treated at a young age carry on with their lives,” said Professor Suh.

Published in DongA Ilbo

Summary by LEE Hee Un, SNU English Editor, gurume0221@snu.ac.kr
Proofread by Melora Brett Briana Johnson, morningcalm2@gmail.com