The year 2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the opening of AMC and filled with significant achievements, both small and large, that testify to AMC's unending efforts to reach out to the underprivileged and to contribute to the development of Korea's health care industry. AMC has drawn upon the past two decade's achievements and brought about many turning points in treatment, research and community outreach as well as education and external relations throughout its past 20 years. AMC opened the Children's Hospital composed of 18 departments and 4 specialized centers to better cater to the needs of underage patients, and also opened the Heart Institute equipped with the 24hour emergency care system and the integrated interdisciplinary treatment system. AMC also succeeded in the nation's first simultaneous living-donor kidney and deceased-donor pancreas transplant and opened up new horizons for diabetic patients. Asan Institute for Life Sciences, expected to take the lead in life science research in and out of Korea, held the groundbreaking ceremony, laying the solid foundation for the nation's health care advancements through the development of new medical technologies. AMC's Cancer Center became Asia's first Liver Cancer Medical Education Center for the Asian Continent, and held the PATH program aimed to introduce the advanced liver cancer diagnosis system and seek more effective liver cancer treatment options, giving wider publicity of AMC's cutting-edge health care service. The Asan Research & Education Center became the approved training institution of the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare and provided stringent overseas emergency relief training that complies with global standards to foster manpower to be dispatched to disaster-stricken sites across the world. AMC never stood idle in reaching out to the communities by visiting underserved areas and remote villages to offer free treatment to foreign laborers and senior citizens of low-income classes. It has also supported healthcare costs total of 1.65 billion won for more than 2,000 underprivileged patients throughout 2009. The Cancer Center that introduced the nation's first multidisciplinary system launched a wide range of cancer education programs to improve quality of life for cancer patients, which received high evaluations. China's Minister of Health, Chen Zhu and staff from Vietnam's general hospital visited AMC to eye-witness advanced technologies and facilities. And nurses from Singapore's National University Hospital received 2 month training in surgical nursing. It testifies to the fact that AMC is now globally recognized not only for physician training but also nursing training. For 3 consecutive years, AMC was selected as Korea's Most Respected Hospital for its advanced medical technologies. AMC's Cancer Center was awarded the Premium Service Certificate in the 2009 THE PROUD Premium Certification. AMC also became the winner of the general hospital sector in the Most Trusted Brand survey by Korean Consumers. Such outstanding achievements drive us to expand our parameter and further stretch ourselves. We are proud to have continued with our quest for excellence throughout the year 2009. We guarantee that we will beef up our efforts to turn 2010 into a better year.