Professor Suk-Won Song is the member of EACTS (European association for cardiothoracic surgeons), STS (Society for Thoracic Surgeons), AATS (American Association for Thoracic Surgeons), and has been the key member in the Korean society of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery and, the Yonsei university college of medicine. He has the skill of both the surgeon and the interventionist and has been the pioneer in defining the crucial role of the surgeon in aortic intervention.
The academic excellence and strong leadership are indisputable. When he started his practice at Gangnam Severance hospital in 2008, he established inter-department rapid response system where urgent aortic patients arrives, the activated system shortened the ER to OR time as short as less than 30 minutes. Since then, he has influenced other hospitals to adopt such system in Korea. More than 450 aortic surgical cases are performed by Dr. Song annually with the mortality rate less than 3%. This achievement shows his excellency as a surgeon with his skill as well. He established the aorta and vascular center in Gangnam Severance hospital where focused clinical team attends the patients from diagnosis to follow-up, and another team formed by attending fellows carry out clinical studies which one is ongoing with the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant and the others with the granted approval of the institutional review board at the Yonsei university college of medicine.
He is preparing the next generation of aortic surgeon where he fostered fellowship program with abundant possibilities to develop skill and achieve integrity as respectable scholar. He has also opened to the medical students and interns to participate in sub-internship program since 2012. He outreaches to the international colleagues who are willing to learn about endovascular techniques through various programs (TCCE, VISTA and G-care), and hosts H-ALIVE (hybrid aortic live symposium) international symposium which will be welcoming scholars around the world.