The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute held the ‘2025 Convergence Doctor Scientist Training Program’ completion ceremony and meeting on March 27 at the Nine Tree Rocaucus Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, awarding certificates to 28 full-time doctoral program graduates.
A doctor scientist (MD-Ph.D) is a core talent who links clinical demand to technology development to drive the biomedical industry. Since 2019, the government has pushed this project, producing a total of 68 graduates to date. The program’s graduates are continuing their careers through various paths, including domestic and international laboratories, hospitals, and startups.
Through this project, the government aims to increase the ratio of doctor scientists to medical school graduates from 1.6% to the advanced country level of 3%. The program provides support from undergraduate to postdoctoral research, spanning up to 11 years. This year, a total of 86.7 billion won will be invested to support over 80 new master’s and doctoral students, 92 postdoctoral researchers, and 31 global joint research projects.
At the completion ceremony, achievements such as SCI(E) paper publication by leading authors and patent completion by graduates were highlighted. Additionally, there were commitments to combine research and clinical work in the future. During the subsequent meeting, opinions from the graduates and participants were heard, and discussions were held to reflect on policy improvements in the future.
Jung Eun-young, the Director of the Health Industry Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, “Doctor scientists are key talents who solve clinical field issues through research and bring the solutions back to patient care. We will continue to support them so they can shine in various fields.”