A prize will be established in remembrance of former World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Lee Jong-wook who died last May. As the first Korean head of the WHO, Lee dedicated himself to fighting AIDS and avian influenza.
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The late WHO director-general Dr. Lee Jong-wook
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The Korea International Foundation for Health and Development said Sunday that two winners will be granted the award at the annual WHO general meeting in May. The two categories are young medical leaders and medical experts contributing to the prevention of epidemics. The first awards will be given in 2009. The prize money of US$100,000 will come from general donations and the Korean government's support to the KIFHAD. The winners will be chosen by a selection committee of five members recommended by the WHO and the KIFHAD.
The late WHO director graduated from the medical school of Seoul National University in 1976 and took care of Hansen's disease, or leprosy, patients in U.S. Samoa.
He worked as the chief of a WHO team fighting the disfiguring disease in the South Pacific in 1983 and rose to become chief of the WHO in 2003.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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