The First Fellow of American College of Surgeons to Come to Korea: Dr. Alfred Irving Ludlow

(1875–1961) dedicated himself to his work as a professor of surgery at Severance Union Medical College. During his travels with L. H. Severance to Korea in 1907 (Fig. 1), Dr. Ludlow attended the meeting of the 15th Presbyterian Council and the First Presbytery of the Presbyterian in Ko-rea and decided to become a medical missionary at the age of 37. By 1912, he had devoted his life to Severance Hospital and its medical school. Alfred Ludlow was raised in a devout Christian family who worshiped together every day. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio in 1901 and completed his internship at the university's Lakeside Hospital in 4 years beginning in July 1901. As a resident, he studied under Dr. Dudley P. Allen, head of the Department of Surgery. Thereafter, he studied for 1 year at the Department of Surgery and Pathology of Rudolph Virchow in Berlin University , Germany. He began his professional career in 1907 as a professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry and as a professor of surgery and pathology with the university's medical school. After just 4 years, he would volunteer as a missionary doctor for the Northern Presbyterian Church of the United States after realizing the urgency and value of medical missionary work during his travels to Korea in 1907. Ludlow began his medical missionary work as head of the Jeryung Presbyterian Hospital for 6 months, treating and performing surgery on many patients. During this time, however, his wife acquired acute appendicitis and was transferred to Severance Hospital, where Dr. Ludlow would perform the nation's first appendec-tomy with the help of Dr. Oliver R. Avison. Thereafter, beginning in August 1912, he made every effort to improve medical education, care, and research as a professor of surgery at Severance Union Medical College and as head of the Departments of Surgery and Research at Severance Hospital until his retirement in 1938. 2 Under Japanese occupation, Dr. Ludlow remained steadfast in the training and educating of Korean surgeons. During his time in Korea, he performed on average about 600 minor operations and 300 operations under general anesthesia every year. Prior to his arrival, surgeries throughout the nation were generally performed by medical missionaries , not specialists. At Severance, however, Dr. Ludlow would implement specialized treatments and surgeries, as well as courses on specific surgical procedures and techniques (Fig. …