Institute for History of Medicine

  • Date of Establishment : May 19, 2008
  • Director : In Sok YEO, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Number of Researchers : 5
  • Main Research Areas

    The institute is the first one of its kind in Korea and carries out extensive research on the history of medicine and related fields. While our main focus is the history of modern medicine in Korea, other research areas include the history of medicine in Korea, medicine in East Asia, and Western medicine. The institute has published a biennial journal Yonsei Journal of Medical History since 1998. Recently it has published a book titled The Modernization of Korean Traditional Medicine during the Colonial Period (2008). Other books State and Medicine in Korea and the Korean translation of Corpus Hippocraticum are planned to be published this year. In addition, the institute organizes various academic meetings all year round, including monthly seminars and international conferences. In 2010, we organized an international conference under the title of Medical Practitioners in East Asia: Historical perspectives, which on August 27, 2010. Every year we organize a joint conference on medical history with our Chinese counterpart. We are carrying out several research projects, including history of malaria in Korea (funded by the Korea Research Foundation) and developing curriculum for educating history of medicine (funded by the Korea Research Foundation). We also offer graduate programs for medical history and philosophy of medicine.