In developed countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, the society for mycology was established 40 years ago. In particular, after the formation of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM), it has contributed to the development of mycology by holding an academic conference every three years.
The Korean Dermatological Association has formed a Fungi Research Subcommittee and held a symposium to take on the character of a club. However, due to the domestic situation outside of dermatology, academic activities related to pathogenic fungi and fungal diseases were conducted independently in the medical, veterinary, microbiological and research institutes, and academic development in this field was not well achieved.
Therefore, to promote the development of medical mycology as well as the efficient management of fungal diseases, 18 people from the field of dermatology and microorganisms held a conference at the Intercontinental Hotel on June 18th, 1993, which was the starting point of the Korean Society for Medical Mycology. An organizing committee (Chairman; Professor Jeon In-ki) was formed for the inaugural general meeting and academic conferences. Afterwards, matters related to the rules of the society and academic conferences were discussed through the organizing committee.
On March 9th, 1994, with 150 members participating, the inaugural general meeting and the first academic conference were successfully held.
Since then, it has held three academic conferences until May 1996, and preparations were being made to launch the Journal of Korean Society for Medical Mycology.
Through 3 academic conferences, 8 guest speakers (5 overseas), and 6 educational lectures, 96 lectures were held.
Currently, out of the 200 members, 70% are members of the Korean Dermatological Association and it is the desire of all the members to contribute greatly the development of mycology in Korea.
It is expected that there will be many contributions to the development of mycology in the Asia Pacific region in the future.
