Gates Foundation Korea office opens next month... Lee Hoon-sang appointed as director

The Gates Foundation, a charity and research support foundation founded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, will open its Korean office next month.

It has been revealed that Lee Hoon-sang, director of strategic planning at the International Health Technology Research Fund (Wright Foundation), has been appointed as the first head of the Gates Foundation's Korean office.

According to the government and the health care community on the 21st, the Gates Foundation has appointed Director Lee as the head of its Korean office and is in the process of finalizing the official opening in the middle of next month.

In a video congratulatory address sent to the '2026 World Bio Summit' co-hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Seoul, Bill Gates, chairman of the Gates Foundation, highly praised Korea's pharmaceutical, bio, and artificial intelligence research and development capabilities and said, "We want to support Korea's leadership by opening our first office in Korea."

The Gates Foundation has been steadily strengthening its cooperative relationship with Korea.

Five domestic companies, including the Gates Foundation, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and SK Bioscience, jointly contributed to the International Health Technology Research Fund in 2018.

The Wright Foundation is a public-private partnership non-profit organization established to support research and development related to infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries through joint funding with the goal of promoting global health equity.

Additionally, the government and the Gates Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation in the health sector in 2022.

An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, "Once the Gates Foundation's Korean office is established, cooperation and research and development with various entities, including companies, are expected to be further strengthened."