The first Ph.D. in nursing science who became a minister
A healthcare expert and a leader who practiced noblesse oblige
Kim Mo-lm
Professor of Yonsei Univ. and Minister of Health and Welfare (1935~)
- Academic background
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1955 ~ 1959
B.S. at Yonsei Univ. (Nursing science)
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1965 ~ 1967
M.S. in public health at the School of Public Health, Univ. of Hawaii
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1967 ~ 1968
M.S. in public health at the School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
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1970 ~ 1973
Ph.D. in public health at the School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
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2000
Honorary Doctorate in Nursing Science at Victoria Univ., Canada
- Professional career
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1959 ~ 2000
Professor at College of Nursing Science, Yonsei Univ.
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1977 ~ 1990
President of Korea Nursing Science Society
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1981 ~ 1985
11th National Assembly member
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1989 ~ 1993
President of the International Council of Nurses (ICN)
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1994 ~ 1998
Secretary General of Global Network, Nursing Cooperation Center, World Health Organization
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1998 ~ 1999
36th Minister of Healthcare and Welfare
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2001 ~ 2010
President of Red Cross College of Nursing
- Awards
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1985
Order of Civil Merit, Peony Medal
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1991
Appointed as Heroes of Public Health by the School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
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1994
Sasakawa Healthcare Award by WHO
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2015
11th Yu Il-Han Award
Professor Mo-Im Kim is the academic pioneer and policy expert in the area of nursing and healthcare, who was the first Ph.D. nurse to become a minister and a true leader who practiced the spirit of noblesse oblige.
Her life went through the history of Korea’s development and institutionalization of nursing and healthcare science. After acquiring a Ph.D. in healthcare science at Johns Hopkins Univ. in 1973, she performed various activities to develop Korean nursing science into a professional science, serving as the dean of the College of Nursing and the Graduate School of Healthcare, Yonsei Univ. She led the training of nursing professors in Korea by establishing a graduate course in the nursing science area for the first time in Korea, and reformed nursing education from disease-oriented to human-oriented. Also, she introduced an RN-BSN system to provide education to enhance nursing expertise. She also established the dept. of International Healthcare and courses on Medical Laws and Ethics Cooperation to provide the basis for expert education and integrated research on philosophy, law, and medicine for life ethics. In addition, establishing an online course in Healthcare Statistics and a ‘Healthcare Administrative Policy Officials Course’, she provided medical practice personnel and policy designers with the opportunity to enhance their expertise.
The introduction of the innovative concept of comprehensive health to the nursing science and healthcare science and the preparation of the foundation for local community nursing science and base-oriented local community healthcare projects were among her most prominent accomplishments. The seven academic books, over 100 research papers and policy reports with these accomplishments functioned as the foundation for the academic development and policy implementation of Korean nursing science and healthcare science.
Professor Kim did not stay within academia and participated in the legislation of policy decision making on various public healthcare and women’s issues, after becoming a member of the National Assembly. Taking up the position of the Minister of Healthcare and Welfare, she worked as the policymaker who set the vision and the direction of Korean healthcare and welfare. She proceeded with the representative healthcare project of Korea, a family planning project, and also participated in the development of the Healthcare Treatment Clinic system, Home Nursing project, and Healthcare Promotion project for alienated rural people. During her term in office as the minister, she prepared the basic living protection system and converted the public medical insurance system to the all-people healthcare insurance system, remarkably improving the social welfare system of the country. She also prepared the foundation of the current pension system by expanding the pension system to all the people and implementing the separation of medical and pharmacy practices.
With the improvement in healthcare policies, she also made efforts on developing and operating training programs for women’s policy participation and fostering human resources for policies as well as fostering women leaders. With these contributions, she won the 1st Hwal-ran Kim Women Leader Award, the 15th Women Leader Chun Gang Award, and the 5th Bichumi Women Grand Prix of Samsung Public Foundation.
She worked as the Korean representative for the UN World Women’s Congress for a long time and was well known to the world with leading roles at international organizations such as the WHO, IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), ICN (International Council of Nurses), etc. Commensurate to her outstanding achievements, she was appointed as one of the ‘Heroes of Public Health’ of the Johns Hopkins Graduate School of Public Healthcare in 1991 and in 1996, the ‘Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars’. The Nursing Science Institute of Yonsei Univ. has changed its name to the ‘Kim Mo-Im Nursing Science Institute’ to honor her academic achievements and leadership and the ICN established the ‘Kim Mo-Im Nursing Innovation and Policy Impact Award’ and actively proceeded with discovery and fostering of global leaders. Recently, there was also research on her life, which was in line with the Korean nursing science development and the research was published as a Ph.D. thesis at the Texas Women’s Univ. It is very rare in the area of nursing science to prepare a Ph.D. thesis on a person, and it was the first time in the USA which is the mainstream of world nursing sciences, to have a research theme on an Asian nurse.
Professor Kim has been society’s leader who had theoretical capabilities and practical enthusiasm in a variety of areas such as nursing, healthcare and medical care, social welfare, women, politics, etc. Above all of these, she is a true humanist who donated all her assets to Yonsei Univ. to discover and foster leaders of global nursing and healthcare, practicing the spirit of noblesse oblige.