Korean J Med Hist.  1997 Jul;6(1):89-104.

Dermatology at the Dawn of a New Age (1876-1945)

• Kee CD

Abstract

It is not certain when the science of dermatology began in our country due to lack of written evidence. However, it probably began with the first establishment of new modern western style medical school in Korea in 1899. The first person who taught the science of dermatology was Dr. Ik-Nam Kim who was educated at Chikeikai Medical School in Japan and became a medical teacher after coming back to Korea in April 1900. The first known dermatologist in Korea was Dr. Kyung-Sun Oh. He entered Louisville Medical School in Louisville, Kentucky, USA in 1902 and he had internship training at Louisville City Hospital after graduation from the medical school in 1907. When he came back to Korea, he was the first dermatologist but the sixth medical doctor after Jae-Pil Seo, Ik-Nam Kim, Sang-Ho Ahn, Ester Park, and Jong-Won Park. The science of dermatology recognized as an individual course was took place in 1910 when the Uihakkyo(Medical School) was affiliated with Daehan Hospital medical school and announced as an independent course. However, there was no dermatologist in that clinic. The evidence of individual dermatology grade was shown on their grade cards in the class of 1911 which was second graduate from Severance Hospital Medical School. However, the only person taught in Severance Medical School was Dr. OR Avison who was not a dermatologist. When the Daehan Hospital was reorganized and changed name into Government-General Hospital in 1910, Hazime Arai was appointed an attending dermatologist to the clinic but he resigned immediately. The next person who was appointed a dermatologist was Susumu Watanabe in 1913 and he became a professor and chairman in the department when the school promoted to Kyungsung Medical College in 1916. Yasushi Hirota was the next person who was appointed in dermatology department when Susumu Watanabe was resigned in 1924. However Yataba Kataoka was reappointed in that department when Yasushi Hirota moved to Kyungsung Imperial University Medical School as an attending professor with new establishment of the Dermato-urology department in 1928. Isamu Moriyasu followed by Nobuhira Kusarai was the head of professors in Taegu Medical College and Tatsuo Nishiyama was in Pyungyang Medical College. All of national and state government supported medical schools were operated by Japanese chairman. The Korean faculty members in medical schools were as follows. As Korean faculty members in Kyungsung Medical College, Kyo-Chang Kim was an assistant in 1913 and Young-Sun Joo was entered as an assistant in 1916 but became a 'Wuiwon' until 1924. Won-Seok Oh was assistant professor from 1926 to 1928. After resignation from the College, he gave lectures as an instructor from 1928 to 1932. Other than Won-Seok Oh, there were two other members working as instructor in the College. Jin-Ku Hong from 1929 to 1930 and Sung-Whan Kim from 1933 to 1940 worked as instructors. There were six to seven members of Korean working as assistants besides Jae-Woong Chung. In Kyungsung Imperial University Medical School, Jae-Ui Choi started with deputy assistant in 1935 then resigned at the day when he was appointed an assistant on May 11th, 1940. Bong-Ung Kim and Ung-Yun Kim started with deputy assistants then resigned as assistants. Sang-Yo Lee, Young-Sik Cho, Byung-Hak Cho, and Tong-II Park started and resigned as deputy assistants. Doo-Sik Park, Tae-Boo Lee, and Sun-Bong Seo were the dermatologist from Taegu Medical College. Sang-Yo Lee, Tae-Ha Woo, and Moo-Seup Cha graduated from Pyungyang Medical College. The Uro-Genito-Dematology department in Severance Union Medical School was established by the first Korean dermatologist, Kyung-Sun Oh on May 14th 1917. Young-Joon Lee entered as an assistant in 1927 and became an assistant professor in 1929. He was promoted to professor in 1932 and chairman of the department in 1934. He became the 3rd dean of the Medical School in 1943. Hak-Song Lee started with title of the assistant professor in 1939 then became a chairman when he was promoted to professor in 1943. Eul-Sung Kim and Yu-Sun Yun were appointed assistants. Since 1927, about twenty doctors had been trained in the dermatology field. This was only Korean dermatology group. In Kyungsung Women's Medical College, Sung-Whan Kim was the first Professor since the College started and worked until the liberation from Japanese occupation as a chairman in Uro-Dermatology department. It is the record of the development of dermatology in Korea from 1876 to the year 1945.

Keyword

First Dermatologist Dr. Kyung-Sun Oh; Uro-Genito-Dematology; Uro-Dermatology; Dermatology