Pictured: (left to right) Dr. Heo, Vice Dean for Educational Affairs, Yonsei; Dr. Pak, former Oakland University Academic Leader and current Clinical Professor of Health Sciences; Dr. Robert Folberg, Founding Dean, OUWB; Dr. Yoon, Dean, Yonsei; Dr. Park, Vice Dean for Research Affairs, Yonsei; Dr. Jeon, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Yonsei.

A Memorandum of Understanding Links the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine and the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea

On June 27, 2011, Dean Yoon of Yonsei University College of Medicine (YUCM) and Founding Dean Folberg of the Oakland University William Beaumont (OUWB) School of Medicine signed a memorandum of understanding in Seoul, Korea, that provides a framework for exchanges at multiple levels.

A delegation from Yonsei visited Michigan in March to meet with OUWB medical school leadership, to tour the School of Medicine facilities, and to visit with their counterparts at Beaumont’s Troy and Royal Oak Campuses.

The association between Yonsei and OUWB was facilitated by Yonsei alumnus, Dr. Moon Jae-J. Pak, who is a former faculty member in Biology at Oakland University, founding director of Center for Health Sciences at Oakland, and an original champion of establishing a medical school at Oakland in the 1970s.

Medical students from Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine will be able to take elective rotations at the Severance Hospital of the Yonsei University Health System, a 2,000 bed facility that is the world’s largest hospital accredited by the Joint Commission International. Medical students from Yonsei will be able to take senior elective rotations at Beaumont Health System, and the first cohort of Yonsei students is expected in to arrive a Beaumont in February, 2012.

The memorandum also links educational resources and researchers at OUWB, the Beaumont Research Institute, and Yonsei University College of Medicine’s research intitiatives-initiatives.