Welcome Message

Welcome to the 2nd Emerging Infectious Diseases Summit Seoul 2026.

Dear Colleagues,

I am Gil-Joon Suh, President of the National Medical Center.

It is my great pleasure to welcome distinguished experts and participants from Korea and around the world to the Emerging Infectious Diseases Summit Seoul 2026 (EIDSS 2026), the International Symposium on Medical Response to Emerging Infectious Diseases, taking place on November 23–24, 2026.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how emerging infectious diseases can transcend national and regional borders and profoundly affect health systems around the world. It also taught us that effective preparedness for infectious disease threats requires strong medical response capacity in times of peace, as well as close collaboration and the continuous exchange of knowledge and expertise among countries and institutions.

Building on these experiences and lessons, the National Medical Center is pleased to host the second Emerging Infectious Diseases Summit, following the inaugural symposium held in 2024. This year’s symposium will bring together infectious disease and medical response experts from Korea and abroad to share experiences and expertise across a broad range of areas, including infectious disease surveillance and early response, clinical care, critical care and pediatric response, infection prevention and control, the use of data and technology, and education and training. Together, we will explore strategies for strengthening preparedness and medical response to future infectious disease threats.

In particular, I hope this symposium will go beyond simply sharing experiences in infectious disease response and serve as an opportunity to develop practical medical response capabilities that can be applied in real-world settings and build sustainable international partnerships for future preparedness.

As the designated National Central Infectious Disease Hospital, the National Medical Center is committed to leading the advancement of Korea’s national infectious disease medical response system. We will also continue to strengthen Korea’s preparedness and response capabilities through close collaboration with leading infectious disease response institutions and international organizations around the world.

I hope that EIDSS 2026 will provide a meaningful platform to learn from the lessons of the past, assess our current preparedness and response capabilities, and work together to prepare for emerging infectious disease threats in the future.

I sincerely thank all distinguished speakers and participants from Korea and around the world for joining us despite your busy schedules, and I look forward to your continued interest and support for EIDSS 2026.

Thank you.