Arnold Kaluzny, PhD, delivered the keynote address Nov. 6 at the International Hospital Federation’s 35th World Hospital Congress in Seoul, South Korea.  More than 2500 hospital leaders, health professionals and researchers from more than 50 countries participated in the event.

Kaluzny, University of North Carolina School of Public Health professor emeritus of health policy and administration and director emeritus of the School’s Public Health Leadership Program, has served for more than 30 years as senior research fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. He also is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

His talk was titled, “Vision and Strategy for Ubiquitous Health Care: The End of Business As We Know It.”

“It was through our distinguished and loyal alumni—and their commitment to UNC—that my colleague, Dr. Daniel Lee, and I were given the opportunity to be part of the conference program,” Kaluzny said.

The University of North Carolina has a long history of collaboration with Korean universities and maintains strong ties with the country through its alumni. A number of graduates of various programs in the Schools of Public Health and Medicine have returned to Korea to occupy significant positions in the Korean health system.

Among these are:

• Young Moon Chae, PhD, dean, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University; professor of health policy and management
• Hoon Sang Chi, MD, PhD, president and CEO, Yonsei University Health System;  professor of  surgery
• Dal-Sun Han, MD, DrPH, president, Korean Public Health Association
• Euichul Shin, PhD, associate professor of preventive medicine, Catholic University of Korea
• Hye-Young Kang, PhD, associate professor, and Jenny Kim, PhD, research associate, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University
• Ahn So-Young, MPH, PhD, director, Organ Transplant Coordination Division, Ministry of Health and Welfare

Kaluzny’s research has focused on organizational factors that affect the performance of health care organizations.  Of particular interest to him are cancer prevention and control programs and continuous quality improvement initiatives in communities.

Shoou-Yih Daniel Lee, PhD, associate professor of health policy and administration, also spoke at the conference.  He presented a paper titled, “Health Care Networks: Promises, Challenges and Strategies.”

Lee’s research interests include organizational change and health care organization, delivery and utilization.

“As the School expands its global activities, we need to continue to be actively involved with this and other international organizations,” Kaluzny said.

“The World Hospital Congress of the International Hospital Federation provides a forum for leading service and research organizations to engage in substantive dialogue about the global issues of providing quality, safe and efficient health care in a variety of cultural settings.  It provides a comparative learning environment and a chance to meet and collaborate with leaders from around the world to address the major health care issues of our time.”

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School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu