Professor Myeong-hwan Ko (Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Medicine) received a citation from the president of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute at the '2021 Awards for Contributions to Health and Medical Technology Commercialization' organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute.

This award is presented annually to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to promoting technology commercialization in the health and medical field and to the growth of the country's health and medical industry.

Since 2015, Professor Ko has led the Ministry of Health and Welfare–sponsored 'Medical Device Translational Clinical Trial Center' project and, over the past five years, has supported approximately 130 medical device manufacturers.

He has achieved the following outcomes: 35 SCI-level papers; 46 preclinical and clinical trials; 17 product approvals (including two CE approvals); 44 collaborative national R&D projects; support for the production of 13 prototypes; 17 domestic and international patents; and three technology transfers.

He was especially recognized for his notable contributions in ensuring that excellent research results did not remain at the basic research stage but were translated into actual commercialization.

The Medical Device Translational Clinical Trial Center led by Professor Ko has become one of the major institutions of Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) Hospital and continues to actively conduct industry–university–research–hospital collaborative research with medical device companies and research institutes.

Professor Ko said, 'It is very rewarding and gratifying as a researcher and physician to see valuable laboratory research results commercialized through companies and actually used in patient care.' He added, 'I will do my best in industry–university–research–hospital collaborative research so that better results will continue to emerge.'