Dr. Woosung Sohn Presents at Yonsei Dentistry Centennial Memorial Symposium
Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) faculty member Dr. Woosung Sohn was on the campus of Yonsei University College of Dentistry (YUCD) in Seoul, South Korea—his alma mater—in November presenting two lectures during the Yonsei Dentistry Centennial Memorial Symposium, which celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of YUCD’s founding. Dr. Sohn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy & Health Services Research and Director of the Advanced Specialty Education Program in Dental Public Health.
This is the fifteenth year that YUCD has coordinated an international dental symposium. At this annual symposium, dental professionals, YUCD alumni, and others from around the world come together to engage in presentations and other activities focused on dental medicine.
The 2015 symposium celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of YUCD’s founding and the history of modern dentistry in South Korea. Two interactive photo albums about the history of YUCD were made available for free, online. They are, “10 most significant people during 100 years of dentistry in Yonsei,” and “100 years of dentistry at Yonsei University (1915 – 2015).”
The symposium took place over the course of three days in November. Dr. Sohn presented two lectures—on the second and third day of the symposium—entitled “Role of psychosocial factors in caries disparities” and “Preventive dentistry in the 21st Century.”
Dr. Sohn received three degrees from YUCD: his DDS in 1987, MS in 1992, and PhD in 1995. He has been back to YUCD to present on two separate occasions, in 2005 and 2007.
The history of YUCD can be traced back to 1915, when a Philadelphia dentist named Dr. W. J. Scheifley, traveled to Korea on an evangelist mission to introduce modern dentistry to the country.
Dr. Scheifley founded the Department of Dentistry at the Severance Union Medical College in Seoul in 1915. Fifty-two years later, in 1967, the first formal, accredited, pre-dental course at YUCD took place. In 1971, the first headquarters for YUCD was erected. This building served as the headquarters for YUCD until 1996, when the current facility was erected. YUCD now operates out of a nine-story dental school building that is attached to an abutting nine-story dental hospital.
More information about the history of YUCD can be found here.
At the Yonsei Dentistry Centennial Memorial Symposium, a museum of dental medicine was unveiled and a tape cutting ceremony for a sculpture depicting Dr. Scheifley took place.
“I would like to congratulate Dr. Sohn for being invited to be a guest speaker at such an important event celebrating the history of YUCD and modern dentistry in Korea,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter.