Joseph P. McMenamin, MD, JD, FCLM
Editor in Chief
EVP, W Medical Strategy Group
Partner, Christian & Barton, LLP

Welcome to the inaugural issue of NexBioHealth, a periodical uniquely focused on the interests, problems, and opportunities of medical students and young physicians. NexBioHealth aims to become the platform of choice for international dialogue between and among young medical professionals on matters professional, scientific, and personal.

This issue offers a smorgasbord of offerings, and may perhaps give an idea of the variety and scope of our plans. Our cover story features Jung-Jin Seo, CEO and founder of Celltrion, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Incheon, South Korea. Celltrion was the first company in Asia to operate US FDA cGMP certified animal cell culture facilities, and has achieved impressive milestones in monoclonal antibody therapy. Operating in more than 100 countries around the world, Celltrion offers affordable biosimilars used in management of a wide array of illnesses, including, among other disease entities, malignancies (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, metastatic breast cancer, metastatic gastric cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer), collagen vascular diseases (rheumatoid arthritis), GI disorders (inflammatory bowel disease), ophthalmic problems (macular degeneration), and dermatologic disease (psoriasis). We hope you will enjoy reading about Celltrion’s story, and about how Seo nurtured it from a small start-up more than twenty years ago to the global enterprise it is today.

This first issue also offers insight and reports on clinical medicine (teledermatology, laparoscopic robotic surgery, hypothyroidism) the economics of medicine (global surgery, which aims to make surgery more accessible and affordable in low and middle-income countries), physicians’ professional problems (burnout, the challenges in moving from one country to another, how a med student can begin to consider specialty options, the career goals of an MD/MPH student, and others) continuing education (a list of upcoming conferences), and more. Our publisher, Chul Hyun, MD, PhD, offers a thoughtful piece on disparities in the care of those with gastric carcinoma and how to cope with them. Our Managing Editor, Dr. Cho, has authored a piece on the value to foreign bio and pharma companies of maintaining an American presence, and I am humbled and honored to have been given a chance to offer some reflections on my own career choices.

We encourage you to explore this first issue, and to take advantage of the opportunities it affords for networking, collaborating, growing, and learning. As you do, consider how we can strengthen and enlarge our offerings to better meet your needs.  After all, NexBioHealth is itself very young-a newborn, in fact-and doubtless has much to learn.  We envision an evolution in content and format as we learn from experience, and from you.

Enjoy.