이상원 소아과 전문의 Pediatrician, John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP

이상원 소아과 전문의

Pediatrician, John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP

Sangwon Lee, M.D., FAAP — Pediatrician
He was born the eldest of nine children to farmer parents—his father, Si-woo Lee, and his mother, Hyang-seop Jung—in Jangdeunggae, Jungjang-ri, Anmyeon-do, Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. It was as if he were born with an invisible stethoscope already draped around his neck. For six years, he walked the twenty-ri (approx. 8 km) round-trip journey to Anjung Elementary School alone, undeterred by snow, rain, or wind. At his graduation ceremony, he ranked first in his class—though the prize awarded to the top student was simply a single shovel.
After completing Hongseong Middle School, he enrolled at Hongseong High School. During his freshman year, he contracted septicemia (a diagnosis I now apply in retrospect). For three months, he lay bedridden, receiving a daily penicillin injection. Finally, after seeking a third medical opinion—this time from a Western-trained physician in Gwangcheon—he underwent surgery; a bowlful of pus was drained from his leg, saving his life. Consequently, he took a one-year leave of absence from high school, extending his time at Hongseong High School to four years. The first physician he had consulted—a graduate of Seoul National University College of Medicine working at a provincial hospital—had merely prescribed crushed aspirin and offered no follow-up care. Similarly, the traditional Korean medicine practitioner he saw next failed to even examine the leg itself, despite the obvious accumulation of pus within it. In the year he finally graduated, he once again ranked first in his class—this time out of a graduating class of over 500 students at Hongseong High School.
He entered Yonsei University College of Medicine—becoming, at the time, one of the first students in Korean history to do so—and, following his graduation in 1963, passed the national licensing examination to receive his Korean medical license.
Throughout his six years of medical school, he maintained excellent academic standing, funding his education through a combination of state-sponsored scholarships, university grants, earnings from delivering newspapers and private tutoring, and financial support from his parents. In his fourth year of medical school, he passed the ECFMG examination—a prerequisite for practicing medicine in the United States. However, having been born into a family of humble means—a “dirt spoon” background—he was forced, with tears in his eyes, to choose a different path. Immediately after graduation, I spent two years volunteering in an underserved rural area in Seosan, followed by three years of service as a medical officer in the Republic of Korea Army. Directly thereafter, I immigrated to the United States to attend the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. After specializing in Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, I practiced pediatrics in Willimantic, Connecticut, for 32 years—a period during which local residents frequently praised me as an exceptional physician. Featured here are a newspaper article from a local publication—commending me as a doctor who embodies the principle of “First, Do No Harm” through compassionate medical care—alongside a photograph of me examining a patient, and an image of my published work: *The Encyclopedia of Pediatric Home Care: Parents, Too, Must Become Half-Doctors*.

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그는 충남 태안군 안면도 중장리 장등개 농부 아버지 이 시우와 농부 정향섭 어머님 부모사이 9 남매자녀들 중 장남으로 보이지 않는 청진기를 목에 걸고 테어나 안중국민학교 왕복 2십리 길을 눈이 오거나 빗 바람이 불어도 혼자 6년간 다녔다. 졸업식에서 수석하고 수석 상품은 삽 하나였다.

그후 홍성 중학을 마추고 홍성 고교에 입학 일학년 재학중 패혈증( 지금 내 진단)에 걸려 3개월 동안 페니실인 주사 하루 한대 3개월 동안 누어 맞다가 광천에서 새번째 양의사의 진단 수술을 받고 다리에서 고름을 한 사발 꺼내고 살아 나서 고등 학교 일년 휴학 하고 홍성고등학교를 4년간 다녔다. 처음 진찰한 서울의대 출신 도립병원 의사는 아스피린을 갈어서 주고 다시 추적 치료도 않고, 그 야의사나 그 다음 본 한의사는 다리에 고름이 잡혀 있는 데 그 다리 부위 한번 진찰도 않고. 졸업하던 해는 홍고등학교 500 여명 졸업생 중 수석을 했다.

연세 의대에 한국 역사상 처음으로 들어가 63년도에 한 후 한국 의사 면허증 국가 시험에 합격한 후 한국 의사 면허증을 수여받았다.

의과대학 시절 국가공여 장학금, 학교공여 장학금, 신문 돌리기, 가정교사를 해서 얻은 돈, 그리고 부모님이 주신 돈으로 의과대학을 6년 만에 우수한 성적으로 졸업했다. 의과 4년 차에 미국에 의사로서 올 수 있는 ECFM 시험에 합격했으나 흙수저로 태어난 나는 눈물을 흘리면서 다른 길을 택하게 되었다.

졸업 후 바로 서산에서 무의촌에 2년간 봉사하고, 그 후 대한민국 육군 군위관에서 3년간 봉사 근무하고, 그 후 바로 도미해 UCONN 의대에. YALE 의대에서 소아과를 전공한 후 커네티컷주 Willimantic에서 소아과 진료를 32년간 할 때 주민들은 나를 좋은 의사라고 칭찬을 많이 했다.이곳 신문사에서 First, Do No Harm으로 인술보시를 베프는 의사라고 칭찬을 한 신문기사와 환자 진찰하는 이 상원 소아과 전문의 사진과 저서 소아가정 간호 백과- 부모도 반의사가 되어야 한다 백과 사진 책.

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