Han Koo Lee was born on November 3, 1929, and, along with his wife and his
mother-in-law, tragically died in a fire in Seoul, Korea, on January 31, 2004.
After completing his premedical work at Seoul National University, he attended
the College of Medicine at Seoul National University, from which he graduated
in 1954. He then faithfully performed his military duty in the Korean Army by
serving in the Korean Army hospitals and the 121st United States Army
Evacuation Hospital.
Han Koo Lee was one of very few Korean physicians who received an
internship and residency training in the United States during the 1950s, after
the Korean War. In 1957, he served an internship in a Columbia
University-affiliated hospital in the Manhattan section of New York, and then
he entered a residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Kentucky in
Lexington, Kentucky. His mentor was William K. Massie Jr., MD, who trained at
Massachusetts General Hospital and served as an Anna Kane Teaching Fellow at
New York Orthopaedic Hospital. Han Koo Lee's beloved wife, Nam Ji Cho, MD,
PhD, was at that time training in pediatrics at Louisville General Hospital.
It was during this time that their two sons, Francis Young-In and Fred Su-In,
were born (Francis in 1962 and Fred in 1963). Their daughter, Christina
Moonhee, was born six years later, in 1969.
Although Han Koo Lee had hoped to continue his medical career in the United
States after his residency and had obtained a fellowship position at New York
Orthopaedic Hospital, he was recruited to Seoul National University Medical
School in 1964, where he continued his professional career as a physician and
professor. He contributed far more to the field of orthopaedics than he ever
received in the way of honors and recognition. He taught modern orthopaedic
surgery to young students and physicians and served as Professor and Chairman
of Orthopaedic Surgery at Seoul National University. He founded the Korean
Bone Tumor Society and the Korean Traumatology Association. He also served as
the president of many societies, including the Korean Orthopaedic Association,
the Korean Knee Society, and the Asian Pacific Musculoskeletal Tumor Society.
Furthermore, as President of the International Society of Limb Salvage
(ISOLS), he completely devoted himself to hosting that group's Thirteenth
International Symposium on Limb Salvage that is scheduled to take place in
Seoul, Korea, in 2005. Sadly, his work was cut short by the tragic accident
that took his life and the lives of his wife and mother-in-law, whom he
unsuccessfully struggled to save from the fire. Han Koo Lee is survived by his
three children: Francis, who trained under his father and is currently working
as Chief of the Tumor and Bone Disease Service and Director of the Center for
Orthopaedic Research at New York Orthopaedic Hospital at Columbia University
in New York; Fred, who is a practicing orthopaedic surgeon in Fort Lee, New
Jersey; and Christina, who studied economics at Smith College and worked as a
banker in Manhattan, New York, before moving to Hong Kong, where she now
resides.
Han Koo Lee was kind but determined. He followed both the modern and the
traditional style of living, and he enjoyed mountain climbing, reading,
watching movies, listening to music, and playing tennis and golf. He cared
about residents and colleagues, and he established the Jeong-San (meaning
"tranquil mountain," which was his pen name) Scholarship Award to
enhance the orthopaedic education of younger generations. When Han Koo Lee
taught medical students and residents, he always took the time to impart
valuable lessons on medical ethics and on life in general in addition to the
usual lessons in orthopaedic surgery. In particular, he would explain that
there are three different types of doctors: a doctor who cures only a disease,
a doctor who cures a person, and a doctor who cures a country (a
"great" doctor). He himself ceaselessly practiced to be a doctor
who cures a country. Han Koo Lee's indomitable spirit was remarkable to the
very end, and he was an inspiration to us all.
—L.U.B.