ITMIG 2018—Prof. Chang Hyun Kang: enthusiasm is important for a successful career

Editor’s note

The 9^th International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group Annual Meeting (ITMIG 2018) was held from October 25^th to 27^th, 2018 in Seoul, Korea. Gathering together many scientists, researchers, clinicians from all over the world who have interest in the field of thymic cancers research, the meeting was a great success with highlights on the latest scientific and clinical developments related to the management of thymic malignancies.

During the meeting, the Editorial Office of Mediastinum has the honor to invite Prof. Chang Hyun Kang (Figure 1), from Seoul National University Hospital, for a brief interview, sharing the establishment and current progress of database of the Korean Thymus Research Association. Moreover, based on his own experience as a surgeon, Prof. Kang also shared some precious suggestions for the young generation of medical workers.

Figure 1 A photo with Prof. Chang Hyun Kang.

Expert introduction

Chang Hyun Kang, MD, PhD (Figure 2), Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.

Figure 2 Prof. Chang Hyun Kang.

Prof. Chang Hyun Kang is a Professor of Seoul National University College of Medicine in the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He graduated Seoul National University College of Medicine and was trained in Seoul National University Hospital. His major interest includes lung cancer, thymic malignancy, esophageal cancer and pediatric thoracic surgery. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed medical papers on these issues. He is now focusing on minimally invasive surgery and multi-center clinical studies. He is actively working on the robotic surgery program and minimally invasive surgery in the children. He is a vice president of Korean robotic study group in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. He is now playing major role in of Korean multicenter database project on thymic malignancy. In this multi-center study group, he played major role in establishing Korean database of thymic malignancy.

Interview

During the interview, Prof. Kang summarized some highlights of the ITMIG 2018 with great excitement as he thought the meeting definitely provided “a good opportunity for every attendee to share the knowledge, exchange the information, as well as to get some kinds of common consensus”.

During the meeting, there’s a section for the Korean Association for Research on the Thymus (KART) presentation. With this chance, Prof. Kang updated that the ongoing work for the KART is the prospective trial, including the trial comparing open surgery to minimally invasive surgery. Through the meeting, the association learnt widely from collaboration with other people in the world.

As a member with major role in Korean multicenter database project on thymic malignancy and in establishing Korean database of thymic malignancy, Prof. Kang also shared with us the precious experience on the establishment of the Korean database with inspiration from Japan, its current progress as well as the future trend, which we believe will be helpful for other researchers in the field.

When talking about the suggestions for the young surgeons, Prof. Kang emphasized the importance of enthusiasm and mentioned that one should maintain his/her interest persistently and focus on one thing instead of swinging among many things if to be excellent. Based on his own experience, Prof. Kang gave his own advice for the young generation: first, to have enthusiasm, and then the ability to maintain the enthusiasm.

Moreover, Prof. Kang also shared with us three of his major focus in the scientific research in the future. For more details, please click the following interview (Figure 3)!

Figure 3 Interview with Prof. Chang Hyun Kang (1). Available online: http://www.asvide.com/article/view/28681

Interview questions are as follows:

• This is the first time that ITMIG Annual Meeting was held in Korea in conjunction with the 50th Annual Meeting of the Korean Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Here would you share some highlights of the meeting this year?
• On Friday, there was a section for the Korean Association for Research on the Thymus (KART) presentation. Here would you summarize some of ongoing work or recent progress of the association?
• You play a major role in Korean multicenter database project on thymic malignancy and in establishing Korean database of thymic malignancy. Would you share the experience when started building the database and its current achievement?
• Would you share what would be your future focus in the scientific research?
• What would be your suggestions for our young generation to have a successful clinical and academic career?

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Mediastinum. The article did not undergo external peer review.

Conflicts of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/med.2018.11.01). YW is an intern and SG is a full-time employee of AME Publishing Company (publisher of the journal). The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

References

1. Wang Y, Gao S. Interview with Prof. Chang Hyun Kang. Asvide 2018;5:896. Available online: http://www.asvide.com/article/view/28681

(Science Editors: Yuehan Wang, Skylar Gao, Mediastinum, med@amegroups.com)