Seoul National University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea
I am Dr. Woon Yong Kwon, MD, PhD. I am a Professor of Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. I am an emergency physician and an intensivist. From 2014, I’ve worked in the emergency department (ED) and the emergency intensive care unit (EICU) in the ED in Seoul National University Hospital. I’ve mainly care for critically-ill patients who visiting the ED and admitted them to the EICU for consistent intensive care. More than 1,000 patients were admitted to the EICU from the ED annually.
In a clinical setting, I have experienced the death of many patients who survived their acute, critically conditions. Immune paralysis resulting in the development of secondary nosocomial infection that occurs during the late clinical course has often contributed to the late mortality in critically ill patients.
Thus, I have studied the role of mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns in the development of neutrophil dysfunction and secondary nosocomial infection, after injury. I extended this research concept and experimental methods to patients with septic shock. I found that circulating mitochondrial N-formyl peptides (mtFPs) contributes to the development of secondary nosocomial infection in patients with septic shock by suppressing formyl peptide receptor 1 (FPR1)-mediated neutrophil chemotaxis and published these results. Now, I am investigating whether the removal of circulating mtFPs can rescue neutrophil chemotaxis in patients recovering from septic shock. Furthermore, I would like to find out a therapeutic strategy to eliminate secondarily inoculated bacteria before a progression to secondary invasive infection.