Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Professor Sanghoon Jheon’s Crew Wins Masters Cup at the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons

The Seoul National University Bundang Hospital announced that Team Asia, led by Professor Sanghoon Jheon at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the SNUBH, won the master’s cup at the 23^rd European Conference on General Thoracic Surgery. The European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) is a society established by thoracic surgeons in Europe in 1993. It consists of 44 European member states and is a globally recognized society which not only produces research on thoracic surgery but also sets the diagnostic standards, classification methods and treatments in the field. Representatives from three continents, Europe, America, and Asia participate in the tournaments for the master’s cup at ESTS. One chosen team sets 16 questions related to clinical examples on thoracic surgery while the two teams answer the question. After three rounds of tournaments, two teams competed for the final round which lasted for six hours. Various questions on the diagnosis and treatment of various clinical examples in thoracic surgery, such as lung cancer, esophageal cancer and lung transplant. Each team consists of 12 doctors (six professors and six residents) including one captain who is in charge of organizing and coaching the team during competition. Distinguished professors from the three continents participated in the competition this year. The Asian team comprised doctors from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and India. Team Asia and Team America entered the final found and Team Asia won the master’ s cup in the end. This was the first victory of Team Asia in the master’s cup tournament for the past five years. Professor Jheon, who led Team Asia in this tournament, said “This is a great victory for both Korea and Asia, since our academic achievements in thoracic surgery were internationally recognized.” He added that, “I will continue my work to provide patients with the best treatments so as to maintain Korea’s position as a world-class country in medical service.”