By Joo-Yup Lee, MD, PhD

As an international member of ASSH, it is my great pleasure to have a chance to look back upon my professional career as an orthopedic and hand surgeon. Since I graduated from medical school 26 years ago, I have pursued the academic career path and now I am working as the director of the hand surgery department of my university, the Editor-in-Chief of the Korean Journal of Hand Surgery (also called Archives of Hand and Microsurgery), and the secretary general of the APWA (Asia Pacific Wrist Association). Now I am writing up several goals that I would love to achieve for the rest of my career.

I had three mentors who helped me choose this profession. They inspired me by treating patients in their own special ways, showing their elegant surgeries, and enhancing my enthusiasm for hand surgery. Although I have had many hand fellows who trained in my department, I still ponder constantly about whether I can be considered a true mentor for them. Mentorship is not just about being told what to do or getting advice about one difficult decision. To become a good mentor, I need to be more open-minded enough to listen to their opinions on new approaches and thoughts.

Last year, I managed to host the 5^th congress of APWA meeting in Seoul. I was surprised by the attendees’ passion for wrist arthroscopy. In Korea, TFCC injury is getting more attention among people just like rotator cuff tear 20 years ago. I have 4-5 arthroscopic TFCC repairs every week and the number has increased gradually. Through these experiences, I have gathered thoughts on organizing a combined meeting/workshop of KSSH and ASSH members to share our knowledge of the wrist.

As arthroscopic techniques develop, more complex procedures such as scapholunate reconstruction will be performed by arthroscopy. I always think that some ligament injuries are inevitable during the procedure though we try to preserve them by ligament sparing approach. During my residency, open rotator cuff repair was the standard procedure and nowadays arthroscopic repair has been popularized greatly. Within a decade, I believe the same thing would happen in the field of wrist surgery as well. Arthroscopic TFCC repair has already become the standard procedure and I would like to contribute to developing other arthroscopic reconstruction procedures in the wrist.