1st Gen. Economic Evaluation Expert Retires from Teaching

Served at Chung-Ang University College of Pharmacy since 2011 after Rutgers University in the US

Recently elected as ISPOR board of director… “will work as an economic and policy expert”

Chung-Ang University College of Pharmacy professor Dong-Churl Suh (65), an economics and policy expert in the domestic and foreign pharmaceutical industry, will be retiring in August this year.

 

After graduating from Chung-Ang University College of Pharmacy in 1979, Suh went to the U.S.

 

and obtained a Master of Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D.

 

in Health Economics from the University of Minnesota.

 

Since 1994, he had lectured and researched the field of pharmaceutical economy and policy serving as a professor and director of the Rutgers University Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

 

Prior to teaching at the Rutgers University, Suh was involved in the innovative healthcare policy design team proposed by former U.S.

 

President Bill Clinton during his election process to propose various research and policies related to drug pricing.

 

Later, as a tenured professor at Rutgers University, Suh taught and researched in the fields of pharmaceutical economics, policy, and clinical trial design while serving as director of the Center for International Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy.

 

Suh also participated as an advisor for the New Jersey government for making health care policy decisions.

 

Suh said, "New Jersey, the state where Rutgers University is located, operates many US government and healthcare-related projects, and is a mecca well known by the global pharmaceutical industry.

 

As research director, I worked with various major pharmaceutical companies that had headquarters near the university such as Johnson & Johnson, MSD, Sanofi, Novartis, BMS, and Pfizer.

 

While studying at the University of York and the University of Sheffield in the UK for two years, I participated in the decision-making process of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) while conducting joint research on economic evaluation." These various activities had become the ground for his fame in the US as an economic evaluation and policy expert in the field of pharmaceuticals.

 

Suh was also the one to suggest that Korea needs a new drug pricing system including the introduction of the economic evaluation system.

 

In the early 1990s, during the days of the Federation of Korean Medical Insurance Societies before the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, Suh introduced the economic evaluation to address the need for an objective indicator of a drug's price.

 

After becoming a tenured professor at Rutgers University, a position that is extremely difficult even for U.S.

 

citizens to achieve, why did Suh return to teach at a college of pharmacy in Korea, where professors are required to retire at the age of 65?

 

The biggest reason for Suh's return to Korea after 25 years was his parents.

 

When his mother passed away from cancer, Suh chose to return to Korea to take care of his lone father.

 

“When returning to Korea, I received numerous offers from various top universities in Korea.

 

However, I chose my alma mater, Chung-Ang University.

 

While serving as the Dean, I carried out various measures to prepare the college for the 6-year Pharmacy Program and for the establishment of a specialized graduate school for pharmacy.

 

In addition, I invited international economic evaluation and regulatory science experts from the US FDA, Europe EMA, as well as those in the field of Biologics for multiple international conferences and training courses.” During his tenure at Rutgers University, he, along with the dean, created a 6-year curriculum for the College of Pharmacy.

 

Among the roughly 130 pharmacy colleges in the U.S., only about 10 including Rutgers University implement the 6-year program that is being currently being pursued in Korea.

 

“While serving as a professor at the College of Pharmacy of Chung-Ang University, I was able to inform people about the current domestic and foreign medical insurance and drug pricing system, the reality of the international pharmaceutical industry, and the U.S.

 

drug price system.

 

At the college system level, my experience in running a 6-year pharmacy program at Rutgers was immensely helpful as Korea's pharmacy education tends to follow the education method used in the U.S.." Suh explained.

 

While industry-related knowledge and skills are essential for entering the pharmaceutical industry or practicing pharmacy after graduation, Suh believes that the 6-year program should focus on strengthening the student's communication and writing skills as those are the most necessary skills for continued self-development.

 

He believes that he did his role in the development of the pharmaceutical industry and pharmacy education at Chung-Ang University during the last 9 years.

 

Recently, he was elected by members to serve as a director of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) for 3 years, an organization that has 20,000 pharmaceutical economy expert members around the world.

 

Along with foreign economic policy experts, as a director, Suh said he hopes to be able to contribute to the development of Korea’s economic evaluation system and system development to improve patient access to new drugs.

 

On his plans after retirement in August, Suh said, "Even after retirement, I plan to find a place where I can continue my contributions to the field of pharmaceutical economy and policy using my various research and policy proposal experiences."