Esther K. Pak(1876-1910) is believed as the first medical doctor in Korea. Esther's life can be largely reviewed in three parts: school-hood at EwhaHaktang(currently Ewha Womans University), Education in the United States, and medical missionary work after coming back to Korea from the United States. The foreign Methodist missionaries was able to enter Korea after opening of its ports and establishing its diplomatic relationship with the United States. Esther met modern sciences and Christianity at EwhaHaktang, which was founded by those missionaries. She could dream of being an American-style medical doctor in the future, while she assisted medical missionaries at PoKuNyoKwan in EwhaHaktang. She could get substantial academic help from those missionaries. With the support of Dr. Rosetta Sherwood Hall, who first introduced the world of medial science to Esther in a real sense, Esther went to the United States to study the field in 1894. While learning it, she suffered from academic frustration, economic difficulty, her husband's death and so on, but she eventually got over those adversities and completed the four years of academic courses to become a medical doctor. Her religious faith and will to help Koreans as a doctor encouraged her to finish what she had originally planned. Esther came back to Korea in 1900 and began to work earnestly as a medical missionary delegated from Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. At PoKuNyoKwan in Seoul and Woman's Hospital in Pyongyang, She performed medical work and enlightenment campaign against the superstitious healing conduct. Esther also took part in the circuit missionary performances. She devoted herself for evangelical work at Bible Institute as well. Esther's activity made people understand the effectiveness of education. She helped people to recognize education for woman, occidental medical treatment and Christianity in a positive way. On April 28, 1909, based on these excellent performances for the social development, she was invited, honored and granted a testimonial at the first welcoming ceremony, which was held by the united body of civilians and officials, for students studying abroad. But on April 13, 1910, about one year after the ceremony, she died of illness. She was 34. Although she was born at the turbulent last period of Korea Empire and lived for only 34 years, Esther's medical missionary work was evaluated as the opening of woman's participation in medical science in Korea. Not only in the 'woman's' but also in 'whole' field of medical science, her performance left significant marks in woman's and Christian history in Korea as well.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Korea ; Medical Missions, Official/history ; Missions and Missionaries/*history ; Protestantism/history

No abstract available.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Medical Missions, Official/history ; Missionaries ; Religious Missions/history

It was the late Chosun Dynasty and Daehan Empire era that Western Medicine has firstly been introduced to Korea, previously operating on a basis of Korean traditional medicine. Western Medicine has been introduced by American missionary and Japanese Imperialism. An introduction of Western Medicine made it feasible to proceed new type medical care including operation, leading to require a new form of medical facilities. In the beginning, new facilities were constructed by Japanese Imperialism. Other hand many of facilities including Severance Hospital were established by missionaries. First of all, Daehan Empire established and managed a modern type of medical facility named "Jejoongwon" in 1885 as a government institution hospital. The Red Cross Hospital built in 1889. Afterwards, Jejoongwon and the Red Cross Hospital were taken over to missionary hospital and Japanese Imperialism, respectively. Japanese Imperialists firstly have protected their nationals residing in Chosun but have proceeded care a few Chosun people to exploit medical treatment as a mean to advertise superiority of the Empire of Japan. The facility that has firstly been established and managed was Jeseang Hospital in Busan in 1877, leading to establish in Wonju, Wonsan, and Mokpo. Afterwards, Japan has organized "Donginhoi" as a civil invasion organization, leading for "Donginhoi" to established "Dongin Hospital" in Pyeongyang, Daegu, and Seoul. Since 1909, governmental leading medical facility named Jahye Hospital was established according to an imperial order, leading to establish 32 hospitals all over the nation. American missionaries have established and managed 28 hospitals started from Severance Hospital built in 1904. However, Chosun doctors started to having educated and opening up their own hospital since 1920, leading for many of medical facilities to be established, but most of them have taken different roles followed by 6.25 War and economic development period. However, some of them are currently under protection as cultural assets, and some of them are now preserved. Buildings have originally been structured of wood as a single story in the beginning, but bricks started to be steadily used, leading to build two story building. Each of clinic department started to be separated since 1920, establishing operation room and treatment room. Now, a change of perception as to buildings that need to be preserved and an attention from government and doctors are required since modern medical facilities keep disappearing.
Colonialism/*history ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Hospital Design and Construction/*history ; Hospitals/history ; Humans ; Missions and Missionaries/history

No abstract available.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Hospitals/*history ; Humans ; Missionaries ; Religious Missions/history ; Republic of Korea ; Schools, Medical/*history ; United States

The purpose of this paper is to overview the life of John W. Heron, M. D. who was the first appointed medical missionary to Korea by the Presbyterian Church USA. Although he was a competent doctor as well as a devoted missionary, he is not well-known yet, because he died early after 5 years' service in Korea. Dr. Heron was born in Derbyshire, England on June 15, 1856. His father, Rev. E. S. Heron, was a Scotch Minister of Congregational Church. His family emigrated to America in 1870 when he was fourteen years old and settled in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1881, he was admitted to the University of Tennessee Medical School and graduated with highest honors in 1883. After training in New York University Hospital, he refused the offer of professorship from the University of Tennessee to become a medical missionary to Korea. He arrived in Seoul on June 21, 1885 and began to work in Royal Government Hospital, Chejungwon, the predecessor of Severance Hospital. In 1887, he became the superintendent of the Hospital following Dr. Horace N. Allen. He also worked for the Royal family and sometimes traveled to the rural areas to care for the patients. He started Chejungwon Church which later became Namdaemoon Presbyterian Church. In 1887, Dr. Heron worked as a member of the Bible translation committee and in 1889, he was elected as the chairman of the Public Committee of the Presbyterian Churches. In 1890, he established 'The Korean Religious Tract Society (Chosunsyungkyoseohoi) with Underwood and Ohlinger. The society published and replenished Christian books, periodical magazines and booklets. In the Summer of 1890, Dr. Heron did his best to take care of the sick suffering from an epidemic dysentery and himself got infected because of the terrible overwork. He passed away on July 26th, 1890. On his deathbed, he told his soldier and native friends around him as follow: "Jesus loves you. He gave His life for you. Stand by Him!" The martyrdom of Dr. Heron should be remembered in the Korean history of mission, because he was the first victim among the foreign missionaries who had lived and worked in Seoul for Korean mission. Dr. Heron's mind of love, service and devotion should be remembered by the medical doctors working today in caring for the patients suffering from physical and spiritual illnesses.
English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; Hospitals, Religious/*history ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries/*history ; *Religion and Medicine ; United States

PoKuNyoKwan was established in 1887 by Meta Howard, a female doctor who was dispatched from Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, an evangelical branch affiliated with U.S. North Methodist Church. PoKuNyoKwan was equipped with dispensaries, waiting rooms, pharmacies, warehouses, operating rooms, and wards for about 30 patients. It used a traditional Korean house, which was renovated for its medical purpose, in Ewha Haktang. Residing in Chung Dong, the medical institution had taken care of women's mental and physical health for about 25 years, until it was merged with East Gate Lillian Harris Memorial Hospital in 1912, and then its dispensary function was abolished in 1913. Medical missionaries(Meta Howard, Rosetta Sherwood, Mary M. Cutler, Emma Ernsberger, Esther K. Pak, Amanda F. Hillman) and nurse missionaries(Ella Lewis, Margaret J. Edmunds, Alta I. Morrison, Naomi A. Anderson), who were professionally trained in the United States, and their helpers, who were trained by those missionaries, managed PoKuNyoKwan. Nurses who were educated in Nurses' Training School, which was also established by PoKuNyoKwan, helped to run the institution as well. At the beginning, they usually had worked as a team of one medical missionary and three helpers. Since its establishment in 1903, however, the helpers began to enter the Nurses' Training School to become professional nurses, and the helpers eventually faded out because of the proliferation of those nurses. PoKuNyoKwan did not only offer medical services but also executed educational and evangelical activities. Medical missionaries struggled to overcome Koreans' ignorance and prejudice against westerners and western medical services, while they took care of their patients at office, for calls, and in hospital dispensaries. Enlightening the public by criticizing Korean traditional medical treatments including fork remedies, acupuncture, and superstitions, they helped modernization of medical systems in Korea. In the area of education, Rosetta Sherwood taught helpers basic medical science to make them regular medical staff members, and Margaret J. Edmunds established the Nurses' Training School in PoKuNyoKwan for the first time in Korea. The nurses who graduated from the school worked at PoKuNyoKwan and some other medical institutions. Evangelical activities included Bible study in the waiting rooms of PoKuNyoKwan and prayer meeting on Sunday for those who were treated in PoKuNyoKwan. The institution in the end worked as a spot for spreading Christianity in Korea. As the first women's hospital, PoKuNyoKwan attempted to educate female doctors. Eventually, it played a role as a cradle to produce Esther K. Pak, who was the first female doctor in Korea. The hospital also ran the first nurse training center. It was, in a real sense, the foundational institution to raise professional practitioner undertaking medical services in Korea. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that PoKuNyoKwan provided sound basis for the development of modern medical services for women in Korea.
Education, Nursing/history ; Female ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Hospitals, Religious/history ; Hospitals, Special/*history ; Humans ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries/*history ; United States ; Women's Health Services/*history

Medical education in Je Joong Won was proposed and initiated by Dr. HN Allen. In his proposal of building a new hospital, submitted to the king in 1885, he expressed his wish to teach Western medicine to young Koreans at the hospital. The king welcomed his proposal and the plan was soon realized. Je Joon Won, the first modern hospital in Korea, opened on April 10th, 1885. The following year, on March 29th, Dr. Allen began medical school attached to the hospital. Many applicants were recruited by the government and 16 students were selected through the entrance examination. At first, they were taught English and finally 12 students out of them were selected after three months of teaching. The selected students were taught arithmetic, physics, chemistry, anatomy and physiology. The medical education at this period cannot be evaluated entirely successful since none of the 12 students was presumed to have worked as a practitioner.
Education, Medical/*history ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Hospitals/history ; Korea ; Mentors/*history ; Missions and Missionaries/*history ; United States ; Western World

Psychiatry is a branch of medicine which deals with the problem of mental health. Although psychiatric concept and treatment is not absent in traditional medicine in Korea, it was not regarded as an independent discipline of medicine. Modern psychiatry was introduced into Korea as modern Western medicine was introduced in 19th century. The American medical missionary Dr. Allen and Dr. Heron gave the first classification of mental diseases of Korean patients in their first year report of Jejoongwon hospital. The statistics are characterized by relatively high rate of hysteria patients among the patients with mental disorders. It was Dr. Mclaren who took the charge of the Psychiatric Department of Severance hospital, the successor of Jejoongwon hospital. As a psychiatrist, Dr. Mclaren had a deep interest in human nature and mind. His thinking on the subjects was based on his Christian faith and philosophy. He claimed that Christian faith plays an important role in curing mental diseases. And several medical students decided to become a psychiatrist under his influence. Among them is Dr. Lee Chung Chul who took the charge of the Department of Psychiatry after Mclaren. After graduation in 1927, Dr. Lee studied in Peking Union Medical College, Australia, and Japan. His main research interests were focused on the biological aspects of mental disorders, and he published several important papers on the subject. But his unexpected early resignation and subsequent expulsion of Dr. Mclaren from Korea by Japanese colonial government hindered further development of psychiatry in Severance Union Medical College until the Liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945. But some of their students specialized in psychiatry during the hard period of early 1940s and they played an important role in the development of modern psychiatry in Korea after the Liberation.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries/history ; Psychiatric Department, Hospital/*history ; Psychiatry/education/*history ; Religion and Psychology ; Schools, Medical/*history ; United States

Kim Pil Soon was born at Sorae Village of Hwang Hye Province, the birth place of the Protestantism in Korean. He was brought up under the strong influence of Christianity and received modern education at Pae Chae School according to the ecommendation of Rev. Underwood. In 1899, Kim Pil Soon, who had been working at Je Joong Won as an assistant and nterpreter of Dr. Sharrocks, was employed by Dr. Avison to help preparing medical textbooks and asked to participate in the medical education. He acquired medical knowledges through his work of translating various medical texts, and which enabled him to teach other medical students. He participated in the administration of the Hospital, taking charge of the provision of meals for in-patients as well as directing the construction of Severance Hospital buildings. And his experience of treating soldiers wounded during the turmoil of the forced dismission of the Korean Army by the Japanese lead him to reflect seriously on Korea's fate in peril. In addition, he became a member of Sinmin Society, a secret political association, to engage in the independence movement. In 1908, Kim Pil Soon graduated from Severance Hospital Medical School as one of the first seven graduates. On graduation, he was appointed as a professor and took the charge of school affaires in 1910. At first, he worked as a assistant physician of ward and surgery, then he took the responsibility of out-patient clinic in 1911. But suddenly, in December 1911, he exiled to China to escape from the Japanese police who was in pursuit of him on account of his involvement in the so-called 105-Person Affaire, a fabricated affaire served as a pretext for the persecution of independence movement. He continued the independence movement in the form of an ideal village movement and training the Independence Army. In 1919, however, he was poisoned to death in a mysterious way. Kim Pil Soon dedicated himself to the independence movement that demands personal sacrifice: giving up his prospective career as a doctor, professor, and hospital administrator. He no longer remained as a ordinary clinician who treats only diseased persons, but transformed himself to the Great Doctor, a time-old ideal type of doctor in the East Asian countries who treats and cures the diseased nation, by dedicating himself to the independence movement.
Education, Medical/*history ; English Abstract ; *Freedom ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries/*history ; *Politics ; Portraits ; Publishing/*history ; Textbooks/*history

Dr. Allen, the first Protestant missionary in Korea, had an opportunity of saving the life of the queen's nephew shortly after his arrival in Korea in 1884. In gratitude the King established the Royal Korean Hospital (Jejoong Won), the first hospital in Korea, and appointed Dr. Allen in charge of the medical affairs of the hospital. After Dr. Allen's resignation from the mission, the work was successively carried on by Drs. JW Heron, RA Hardie, CC Vinton and OR Avison, the last of whom arrived in 1893. In 1894 the connection of the Hospital with the Korean Government was severed and the work taken over by the Northern Presbyterian Mission. Since then, it has been a distinctly mission institute. In 1900, while attending the Ecumenical Conference of Foreign Missions in Carnegie Hall, New York, Dr. Avison made the acquaintance of a philanthropist LH Severance, who made a gift of $10,000 for a new hospital. This building, the first modern hospital in Korea, was opened and dedicated in 1904. It was named the Severance Hospital. As the new hospital was built, the old hospital building was to be returned to the Korean Government according to the agreement made in 1894. On retaking the old hospital, the Korean Government paid $30,289.99 won for the renovation of the original building and new buildings established in the site during the period of Avison's entire charge of Jejoong Won. The old hospital building was used as an official residence for a diplomatic adviser Stevens, who was assassinated for his pro-Japan activities, and as a social club for Japanese officials.
Christianity/*history ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Hospitals, Public/*history ; Hospitals, Religious/*history ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries/*history ; United States