"訃 告"

Dr. Henry Hong Kwah, 87, of Bel Air, Maryland, died on Sunday, August 10, 2014.

Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Dr. Kwah attended Seoul National University after graduating from Kyungi High School. Upon graduation from Seoul National University Medical School in 1951, he became a medical officer in the Republic of Korea army.  During the Korean War, he served three years on the front line in a M.A.S.H. unit with the U.S. 1st Marine Division.

Dr. Kwah traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1954 for his medical internship at Deaconess Hospital. He then spent four years completing his postgraduate residency in general surgery at Maryland General Hospital (Baltimore), followed by additional training in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Maryland Hospital.

With a cardiovascular and thoracic fellowship at University of Toronto Hospital, Canada, Dr. Kwah completed further clinical work in cardiovascular surgery as well as conducted research sponsored by the Heart Foundation of Canada.

In 1965, Dr. Kwah joined the staffs of Harford Memorial Hospital and the Surgical Clinic of Havre de Grace, Maryland. In 1973, he chaired the committee responsible for the opening of the Intensive Care Unit. He continued on to serve as the ICU's Medical Director and then as Chief of Surgery.  

Dr. Kwah was an active member of the local and professional community. He was a Fellow at the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the International College of Angiology; a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery; and member of the American Thoracic Society. He served terms as chair of the Harford County Heart Association and chair of its annual heart fund campaign as well as vice president of the then Central Maryland Heart Association Board of Directors. Elected president, Dr. Kwah led both the Harford County Medical Association and Korean American Medical Association.

For more than thirty years, Dr. Kwah dedicated his career to Harford County citizens and the medical community at Harford Memorial and Fallston General Hospitals, Surgical Clinic, and his private practices in Havre de Grace and Fallston. While he spent most of his life in Maryland, he was loyal throughout to his homeland South Korea. Dr. Kwah led his beloved Seoul National University College of Medicine Alumni Association as president and served as chair of Korean Medical Association of America's Scientific and Education Committee. His goal was always for both countries to benefit from the lessons and advances of each other's medical systems.

While Dr. Kwah was at the University of Maryland, he was deeply affected by his training under the late Dr. R Adams Cowley, the "Father of Trauma Medicine” and founder of the country's first trauma center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Since his retirement in 1995, Dr. Kwah had dedicated his lifetime of medical experience to his vision for a shock trauma system in South Korea, where trauma is the third most common cause of death and the leading cause of death for people under forty-five.  He fulfilled this dream when in 2010, he was recruited to join the staff of Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital in Pusan as a consultant in the design of its new, cutting-edge trauma center and later as the Center's Advisory Professor.  

He is survived by his wife of fifty-six years, Dr. Micha Kim Kwah; his children Wesley Kwah, Carolyn Nelson, Marjorie Kwah; and grandchildren Allison Kwah, Ashley Kwah, and Weston Kwah.

A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, August 31 at Bethel Korean Presbyterian Church (3165 St. Johns Ln., Ellicott City, Maryland, at 6:00 PM.)

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Dr. Kwah's name to support University of Maryland School of Medicine's Department of Surgery. Please make checks payable to University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation (UMBF, Inc.), reference Dr. Henry Kwah/Dept. of Surgery and mail  to University of MD Development Office, 31 S. Greene St, Baltimore, MD 21201. Online gifts can be made at www.fundformedicine.org /Make A Gift/Department of Surgery.