2021 Seongnam International Medical Tourism Convention: Pioneering the Future of Healthcare

2021 Seongnam International Medical Tourism Convention' to be held online on the 9th
Presentations of 21 experts from global companies such as GE Healthcare and Amazon
Seongnam City will hold the ‘2021 Seongnam International Medical Tourism Convention' online for three days from September 9 to 11. Under the theme of 'Global Healthcare, Challenge for Change,' the city will present a new future strategy and vision in a new era with the 4th industrial technology development and Covid-19.

Among primary local governments, Seongnam played a pioneering role by hosting this event which marks its 4th anniversary this year. In particular, this event represents the specialized MICE (MICE: corporate meeting, reward tourism, convention, exhibition) that has been selected for three consecutive years, from 2019 to 2021, in the Gyeonggi-do regional specialized MICE fostering project. This event will be held online in consideration of the COVID-19 situation.

The event consisted of various programs such as ▲the Online PR Center ▲International Conference ▲Business Consultation ▲Citizens Health Lecture. Significantly, the international conference in which 21 experts from each field will participate is divided into four sessions: ▲medical ▲tourism ▲digital healthcare ▲pharma biopharmaceuticals, and 21 experts from each area will participate. They will conduct an in-depth discussion on countermeasures in the post-corona era.

At the medical session on the 9th, Keith Pollard, Editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Medical Tourism (IMTJ), which is one of the most world-renowned journals, will present 'The Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities' and Ki-nam Jin, Professor at Yonsei University, an authority in the field of medical tourism in Korea, will give a lecture on 'how to improve the experience of medical tourists visiting Korea.'

In addition, Sung-hee Choi, Director of International Medical Center of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Maria Kniazeba, Professor at the University of San Diego, Alia Ibrahim, Manager at International Patient Program Cooperative, Ruth Frey, Vice president at Philadelphia Children's Hospital, and Laura Mclusky, CEO of Well Me Wellness are also giving lectures.


Among primary local governments, Seongnam first holds Online Seongnam International Medical Tourism Convention from September 9 to 11.
In the tour session, three experts, including Kim Bada, CEO of the Gangjin Cultural Foundation, will present not only new changes in the field of smart tourism but also the smart tourism and metaverse industry, which are recently attracting attention.

Then, at the digital healthcare session on the 10th, experts from global companies such as Gwang-hee Jang, Managing Director of GE Healthcare, Min-sung Cho from Director of Amazon Web Service, and Hyo-shuk Kim, Head of Philips, will join. In addition, Dong-cheol Cha, Head of Medical Innovation Office of Naver, and Yun-sup Choi, CEO of Digital Healthcare Partners, will give lectures to introduce each company's related businesses. Afterward, speakers will participate in discussing health care development and cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises.

Lastly, at the Pharmaceutical and Bio Session, Sung-rin Baik, Head of the Vaccine Commercialization Project Group, is preparing a lecture on 'Global Vaccine Hub Strategy for Post-Coronavirus'. Next, Seung-kyu Lee, Vice-chairman of Korea Bio Association, Sundeep Lal, CEO of Bionexus, and Adrian Dawkes, Managing Director of Pharma Ventures, will present the pharmaceutical bio-industry in the post-corona era.

Seongnam city officials said, "We hope that this event will serve as a venue for international exchanges as a new turning point to develop the domestic healthcare industry. Then, it opens the way to discuss how to prepare for the post-corona era and come up with a plan for cooperation." And he added, "We will continue to promote the domestic medical and tourism industry at home and abroad and to support our Korean companies to enter overseas markets."