Amid this situation, change began at Samsung Changwon Hospital. Professor Jo Jae-won, an authority in liver transplantation, joined the hospital along with his students, following Professors Ko Kwang-cheol, Lim Hyun-chul and Lee Won-jae from Samsung Seoul Hospital and Professor Ha Hyun-kwon from Asan Medical Center. Medical staff who built clinical experience in the Seoul metropolitan area and those who accumulated treatment expertise in the region established a “one team” based on their respective specialties. Professor Jo Jae-won said, “Our goal is to provide the highest level of liver cancer treatment safely in regional areas as well.”
Professor Jo Jae-won, a Liver Transplant Authority, Forms a Team With His Students
Professor Jo Jae-won, who heads Samsung Changwon Hospital’s Organ Transplant Center, trained in organ transplantation at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia School of Medicine in the United States in 1992. He joined Samsung Seoul Hospital as a founding member in 1994 and led the development of liver transplantation in South Korea for approximately 30 years. He has performed 2,500 laparoscopic liver resections for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and more than 500 laparoscopic resections for living liver donors. He has personally performed brain-dead donor liver transplants and living-donor liver transplants, as well as liver cancer surgeries.
Professor Jo began a new chapter in Changwon in 2023. His aim was to bring the liver transplant experience he had built in the Seoul metropolitan area to the region and create a team capable of continuing complex liver cancer surgeries in Changwon.
Professor Jo invited Professors Lee Ji-su and Ahn Seong-hyo, with whom he had maintained a longstanding mentor-student relationship, and both readily moved to Changwon.
Professor Lee Ji-su said, “Liver transplantation necessarily requires a team, and I decided to come to Changwon because I thought I could be of even a little help to patients in the Gyeongsangnam-do region.” Professor Ahn Seong-hyo said, “There are truly many patients in the region who need liver transplants or liver cancer surgery,” adding, “It is highly meaningful simply to be able to meet that need.”
Samsung Changwon Hospital’s Organ Transplant Center performed its first complex liver transplant in April 2023 and recorded a cumulative total of 15 procedures by December of that year. The number rose to 30 in 2024 and 44 in 2025, while cumulative liver transplants reached 62 by September 2026. As surgical experience accumulated, the center established a foundation for continuously performing complex liver transplants.
It currently operates a multidisciplinary care system comprising 13 medical professionals from six departments, including gastroenterology, surgery, radiology, hematology and oncology, radiation oncology, and anesthesiology and pain medicine.
On this basis, the hospital can provide not only liver transplantation but also complex liver cancer treatments, including transarterial radioembolization and radiofrequency ablation.
Professors Ko Kwang-cheol, Kim Kwang-min and Shim Sang-gun of the Department of Gastroenterology diagnose liver disease and liver cancer and evaluate liver function and the extent of disease progression.
Professors Lee Won-jae and Ha Hyun-kwon of the Department of Radiology identify the location and extent of tumors through imaging tests and detailed interpretations. Professors Lim Hyun-chul and Kim Dong-soo of the same department perform interventional procedures, including radiofrequency ablation and transarterial radioembolization.
Professor Ji Jun-ho of the Department of Hematology and Oncology administers anticancer treatment according to each patient’s condition, while Professor Kim Tae-gyu of the Department of Radiation Oncology establishes treatment plans for patients requiring radiation therapy.
Professor Kim Jeong-yeon of the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine manages patients’ overall condition during complex liver transplant surgeries. Professor Jo Jae-won said, “Medical professionals with their respective areas of expertise share information about patients’ conditions and jointly determine the best treatment direction.”
Strengthening Region-Centered Care to Reduce Travel to Seoul
Liver cancer patients must check for recurrence and receive continuous follow-up even after surgery. If they receive diagnosis and surgery in their region but must travel to Seoul again for subsequent care, the burden on patients and their families inevitably increases.
Professor Ahn Seong-hyo said, “Our role is to ensure that patients can receive the treatment they need in their region without having to travel all the way to Seoul.”
Samsung Changwon Hospital aims to establish a “regionally self-contained medical model” that can treat serious diseases locally and continue care after surgery, amid the concentration of patients in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Through its “FAST TRACK” program, the hospital is currently establishing a system that enables patients to continue treatment within the region by rapidly linking them with local medical institutions and taking responsibility for post-surgical prognosis management.
Professor Jo Jae-won said, “Going forward, we will further strengthen a seamless care system in the liver cancer treatment field, connecting diagnosis and surgery with complication management and long-term follow-up within the region.”
