Kwan Aij-lie (關皚麗), a surgeon and professor at Kaohsiung Medical University’s Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital, has been elected the first female president of the International College of Surgeons (ICS).
The ICS is a non-governmental organization founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1935, and has its headquarters in Chicago.
The Republic of China has been a member of the ICS since 1944.
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung Medical University’s Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital
Kwan is the second Taiwanese to head the organization, after the late Lee Chun-jean (李俊仁), who practiced at National Taiwan University Hospital.
Born in Indonesia, Kwan said she had been determined to become a doctor when she was young and obtained a master’s degree in healthcare management and a doctorate from Kaohsiung Medical University’s Graduate Institute of Medicine.
She became Taiwan’s first female neurosurgeon and has so far performed more than 7,000 brain or spinal surgeries.
Kwan has been attending ICS events for more than 20 years, as well as medical missions in remote rural areas of more than 10 countries on six continents.
She once operated on a child with a tumor in an ill-equipped clinic on a small Indonesian island with a cell phone as the only light, the university said on Friday.
In the past few years, Kwan has been promoting the idea of “hope and help,” guiding young Taiwanese doctors to medical projects in remote areas around the world, the school said.
Kwan often tells herself to “just do it” and is passionate about everything she does, it said.
Kwan’s inauguration, originally scheduled for Jan. 1, was held at a dinner hosted by Kaohsiung Medical University’s Neuroscience Research Center on Friday.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS