Professor Juhee Cho of SAIHST Receives the Prime Minister's Award

Professor Juhee Cho of the Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology(SAIHST) received the Prime Minister's Award at the “2025 Government Awards for Contributors to Health and Medical Technology Promotion,” held on November 27 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Marking its 24th year, the Government Awards for Contributors to Health and Medical Technology Promotion is the most prestigious honor in the field of health and medical technology, hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The award is presented to individuals and organizations that have achieved outstanding accomplishments in advancing Korea’s health and medical technology and fostering the health industry. Notably, the evaluation encompasses not only research achievements but also policy and industrial impact, further underscoring the award’s significance.

Professor Cho is a leading clinical epidemiologist in Korea who has spearheaded research on the quality of life of cancer survivors and patient-centered cancer care. She has scientifically identified the physical, psychological, and social challenges faced by patients after cancer diagnosis and treatment, providing evidence to improve these experiences. Her research demonstrated the impact of distress at diagnosis on lung cancer prognosis and clarified the psychological and social effects of appearance changes and chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Based on these findings, she established evidence supporting the use of cooling caps to prevent permanent hair loss from chemotherapy, continuing her work that centers on patient experience. By utilizing national public big data and hospital clinical data, she has analyzed various health risks among cancer survivors, including secondary cancers and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, thereby presenting the need for tailored follow-up and surveillance strategies. She has also actively conducted multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research, contributing to studies on secondary hematologic malignancies among breast cancer survivors, precision medicine–based surgical strategies for lung cancer patients, and improvements to international staging systems. Her work has been published in internationally renowned journals such as the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and JAMA Oncology, earning high recognition globally.

Professor Cho’s contributions extend beyond research. She has helped develop programs supporting cancer patients’ return to work, participated in the amendment process of the Cancer Control Act to strengthen cancer survivor care, and provided policy consultation. She has also proposed personalized care models utilizing digital health and bio–big data, thereby connecting academic achievements to practical policy and institutional improvements. This Prime Minister’s Award comprehensively recognizes her contributions to patient-centered research across the entire life cycle of cancer patients and survivors, as well as her impact on national cancer control policies and system development.