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[International Office] Interview with Dr. Gayle

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  • Writer 제중원보건개발원
  • Date 23.01.19
Dr. Gayle

1) Please introduce yourself.

Hi. I’m Gayle Louise Opada-Villarmea, 41 years old and with me here in South Korea are my husband, Karl James Villarmea and my 7-year old twin boys, Kei Gabriel and Keiji Gavin.


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

Back in the Philippines, I am practicing both as a Dermatologist and Dermatopathologist in my own private clinic, G.L.O. Medical Specialists Clinic, located in Dumaguete City, 360 kilometers south of Manila.


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

I got to know Severance Hospital through my dermatology consultant at Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC) in Manila, Philippines who introduced me to my present mentor, Professor Kee Yang Chung. I chose this prestigious institution as my training hospital because of the highly skilled professors who can mentor, the wealth of cases that I can encounter, and the world class facilities that I will be able to use and learn from. All of which I hope, and all the things I will learn, I can bring to my home country. 


4)  How long is your training period in Korea?

My formal hands-on training is 1 year. But before this, we still have to undergo a 1-month Prime course and a 3-month observation period. That brings it to a total of 16 months. 


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

My fellowship is focused on Dermatologic Surgery, specifically Mohs micrographic surgery. My supervisor is Professor Kee Yang Chung. 


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

Yonsei Severance Hospital is one of the three hospitals in South Korea that has a Melanoma team and the only one in Seoul. It is also one of the top five biggest hospitals in the country. Severance hospital has a lot of patients and numerous skin cancer cases for me to learn from in my specific field of study. 


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

My fellowship training focuses on Dermatologic surgery, specifically using the Mohs micrographic surgery technique, where we have to remove surgically the skin cancer with normal skin borders and check the margins in the microscope if there is no skin cancer left before closing it by reconstructive surgery. 


8)If you were to get the chance to come back, which field of clinical study would you like to focus on?

If I were given a chance to come back, I will still choose Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) technique and focus more on Acral melanoma MMS since it is the most common melanoma in Asians. And maybe add Negative pressure technique in the post-op wound management.


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

I am very thankful to my professor, Prof. Kee Yang Chung and his very efficient nurse, Miss Nam. They really went out of their way to help me maximize my training. They provided me with materials to practice before hands-on training, patiently taught me from the smallest detail of holding the surgical knife, to the angle of the blade when cutting to the holding of sutures when closing. They also went out of their way to help me even with matters that concern outside the hospital.


10)What was your first impression of Korea?

My first impression is that Korea is amazingly advanced when it comes to technology. Severance Hospital has world-class facilities and is superior when it comes to treatment of patients.


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

Aside from my fellowship training which is for me the best and will be the best memory for me and for my family, the one-month Prime course is actually one that I will consider as one-of the-best because I got to know other fellow international doctors and created friendships with them. I am also thankful we had a Korean language class before starting our fellowship. It did help a lot not just in communicating with patients in the hospital but also outside the hospital.


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