Professor Jee Sun-ha of the Graduate School of Public Health has entered the public spotlight following his August 27 presentation on the “Effects of Smoking and the Burden of Medical Costs” at a forum sponsored by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS).  Professor Jee’s talk is receiving a great deal of attention because of the NHIS’s plan to sue KT&G (originally “Korea Tobacco & Ginseng,” now the “Korea Tomorrow & Global” Corporation) to cover the increasing public health costs due to smoking-related diseases.
 Professor Jee’s research on the effects of smoking and the high public health costs associated with it was undertaken through a joint research project between the NHIS and Yonsei.  The study is distinctive in that it is based on a massive health insurance data set—1.3 million public servants, employees at private schools, and their dependents—tracked over a 19 year period.  For the project, researchers focused on individuals who underwent medical examinations between 1992 and 1995 and then tracked the health care received by these people through the end of 2011.  The large scale of this cohort study has made it particularly persuasive to Korean public health officials.
  Professor Jee’s work in developing large-scale cohort studies on the effects of smoking has also drawn international attention.   In 2012, he was invited to the University of Oxford to speak at the Richard Doll Centenary Meeting.  This gathering of elite epidemiologists engaged in cohort studies on the hazards of prolonged smoking was held in honor of Sir Richard Doll, one of the foremost epidemiologists of the twentieth century and a pioneer in research linking smoking to a variety of health problems.  Professor Jee’s invitation to this prestigious scientific meeting, it goes without saying, testifies to the high quality and international importance of his research. 
 Currently, Professor Jee is pursuing a cohort study on suicide in Korea based upon data from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) and the NHIS.  Through this study, Professor Jee hopes to develop an effective suicide prevention model.  When asked for a few words of advice to fellow Yonseians, Professor Jee emphasized the importance of hard work and passion:  “If you continually work with passion, your footsteps may guide others.”