July 28, 2017, SEOUL, KOREA – Prof. Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, visited the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) at Seoul National University (SNU) Research Park on July 28.
The former UN chief is currently Honorary Dean of the Institute for Global Engagement and distinguished professor at Yonsei University in South Korea. He visited the Seoul-based non-profit international organization for the first time at the invitation of the Korea Support Committee for IVI (KSC).
Established as an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1997, IVI was the first international organization hosted by South Korea. In the process of IVI’s founding, Prof. Ban provided support as Korea’s vice minister of foreign affairs, and has since been a supporter of the institute’s mandate to discover, develop and deliver vaccines for global public health.
During the visit at IVI, Prof. Ban held talks with KSC Advisors Prof. Cho Wan-kyoo, former SNU President and IVI’s founding board member, and Prof. Park Sang-Dai, an emeritus professor of SNU, as well as senior IVI staff including Deputy Director General Dr. Han Kyung-Taik and Dr. Song Man-ki, head of Clinical Research Laboratory, before taking a guided tour of IVI’s laboratories.
About IVI
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is the world’s only international organization devoted exclusively to developing and introducing new and improved vaccines to protect the world’s poorest people, especially children in developing countries. Established in 1997, IVI operates as an independent international organization under a treaty signed by 35 countries and the World Health Organization. The Institute conducts research in more than 20 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America on vaccines against enteric and diarrheal infections, Japanese encephalitis, MERS-CoV, and dengue fever, and develops new and improved vaccines at its headquarters in Seoul, Republic of Korea. For more information, please visit www.ivi.int