Yonsei Institute
for Global Health

1) Please introduce yourself.    

1. My name is Junjira Sawasdipong, a 38-year-old from Thailand. I have my parents and one older brother.

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2) Where is your working place back in your country and what is your specialty?    

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  • The workplace in my home country is the Institute of Dermatology, Thailand. I am a dermatologist in a specific field of the dermatosurgery subunit of the hospital.

3) How did you get to know Severance? Why did you choose Severance as your training hospital?    

• I knew Severance Hospital because of professor Kee-Yang Chung. He is a well-known international dermato-surgeon fluent speaker in many seminars. He is famous in dermato-surgery fields, especially in skin cancer surgery. Furthermore, He is my inspiration and made me choose to study with him at Severance Hospital.

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4) How long is your training period in Korea?  

My training period is 10 months, start from the 1^st of March to the 31^st of December 2021.

5) Which area did you focus on during your fellowship at Severance? 

• My fellowship at Severance Hospital focuses on dermatosurgery fields, especially Mohs surgery for skin cancer. My training supervisor is professor Kee-Yang Chung.

6) What is the most impressive feature of Severance Hospital?  

• Severance Hospital is one of the largest and most famous hospitals in Korea. There is an extremely long history. In my opinion, the most impressive feature is the good teaching and learning system with many academic specialists. There are modern and high technologies for patient care and standard treatments like robotic surgery. The hospital is also trying to create a good and beautiful environment for the patients, such as Woori Lounge Gallery. Furthermore, the hospital is placed in an area of communities and near many universities. These typically makes travelling comfortable. The hospital is also located nearby beautiful nature. This is an excellent place for both learning and relaxing.

7) What are the specific contents of your fellowship program at Severance?  

• The specific contents of my fellowship program involve the dermato-surgery fields. These fields are important for the diagnosis and management of both benign and malignant skin neoplasms. The topics including how to do the Mohs micrographic surgery and skin defect reconstruction. These are important parts of malignant skin tumor treatments. The effectiveness of the therapy affects the success and the patient’s quality of life in the future. Furthermore, this program additionally involved various procedures and aesthetic fields such as laser treatments, autologous fat transfer, thread lifting for aging skin, botulinum toxin injection, blepharoplasty, microdermal grafting for scars, and other keloid and scar surgeries, etc.

8) What was your first impression of Korea?  

• In my opinion, Korea is an impressively developed country in East Asia because this country tries to combine preserving arts and local culture with modern technology. Koreans coexist their life with pleasant nature. Korea's convenient and rapid transportation is another remarkable thing that favorably impresses me. This makes long-term living here much easier. Having an opportunity to live in Korea for more than six months, providing me to gain knowledge skills, learning more about various unique arts, cultures, and people's lifestyles. These produce more distinct experiences that I apply and adapt to my routine life.

9) What is the best memory so far during your stay here?  

• Before I arrived in Korea, I worried about feeling lonely in an unfamiliar foreign country with a different language and ineffective communication. Since I have been in Korea, I found everything easier than I thought. Coming here has produced me to make friends with people from many countries, learned to adapt to new environments, and made me practice more languages. I am supported by many people like my supervisor, Korean dermatology residents, Miss Kyung-ae Nam, and all of dermatosurgery team. Everyone is very cooperative, understanding, caring, teaching, and helping me. When there were any potential problems with communication, they also helped me to solve those problems. They make my studies go through well and efficiently. Therefore, my surrounding people have remained as my best memory so far during my stay here.

10) Who are you most thankful for at Severance (who helped you the most) & why?  

• The most thankful person at Severance Hospital is my supervisor, Professor Kee-Yang Chung. I wholeheartedly appreciate everything he performed for me. He is one of my role models in realistically being a good doctor and an effective teacher. He is patient, kind, works hard, and helps me a lot to improve my necessary knowledge and skill of dermatological surgery. Furthermore, he provides me with a great working environment, support, guidance, and encouragement. Therefore, this is my most fantastic experience in Korea by learning from him. The others who I would like to thank are Miss Kyung-ae Nam, all of the dermatosurgery team, and the International Office for their good support and helping me.      

1. 11) If you were to get the chance to come back, which field of clinical study would you like to focus on?
   As I am interested in various topics of dermatological surgeries, I believe my skill will be better if I learn and practice more. If I were to get the chance to come back, I would like to receive an opportunity to study and practice more in other specific skin surgeries. These topics include surgeries in the treatment of vitiligo and other abnormal pigment diseases, surgeries of hair and nails, liposuction, fat grafting and stem cell therapy, etc. The purpose of these studies is to develop myself, keep the treatment safe and more efficient.