Dear Honorable Members of the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine (KSNM),

Greetings.
As the 28th President of the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine with the 65th anniversary of our founding in 2026, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all past presidents and executives who have dedicated themselves to building the distinguished society we have today, as well as to all our members for their steadfast support.

Despite numerous challenges, the KSNM has achieved significant clinical and academic milestones through the pioneering efforts and passion of many members. As one of the 26 legally recognized medical specialty societies in Republic of Korea, we have consistently contributed to public health and the advancement of medicine. Recently, new nuclear medicine diagnostic and therapeutic methods-represented by theranostics and artificial intelligence-have been introduced into clinical practice, leading to a steady increase in the number of examinations and treatments. Furthermore, there is a growing trend of startups utilizing innovative nuclear medicine technologies.

However, although the conflict between the medical community and the government that caused us great hardship from 2024 to 2025 has subsided, the medical field continues to face difficulties due to various changes in government policy and medical environment. Our society also faces ongoing issues, such as low application rates for residency leading to a shortage of nuclear medicine physicians, low profitability of nuclear medicine services due to low insurance reimbursement rates, and high barriers to clinical entry for new nuclear medicine technologies. In this changing internal and external environment, the role of our society in overcoming these crises will become even more critical. My new executive team and I will do our utmost for the development of the society.

The primary areas and initiatives that my executive team intends to focus on during our term are as follows:
First, we will strive to expand and strengthen the scope of nuclear medicine practice. As a branch of clinical medicine, patient care is naturally our highest priority. We will work to ensure that new radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and therapy are rapidly introduced into clinical settings with appropriate insurance coverage. We will also seek to expand and improve clinical indications and insurance reimbursements for existing methods. The society will take a proactive role in expanding the provision of efficient and rapid clinical information and educational content, publishing relevant guidelines, and communicating with related societies, institutions, and companies. To ensure a stable supply and use of radiopharmaceuticals, we will continue to strengthen cooperation with relevant agencies, focusing particularly on providing new diagnostic/therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals that are currently difficult to use in regional areas. Regarding the recently tightened radiation safety management, we will promote and strive for institutional improvements to ensure that safety management remains reasonable while considering the unique characteristics of medical practice.

Second, we will focus on nurturing young nuclear medicine physicians-including residents and fellows-and the next generation of nuclear medicine scientists. Providing excellent education and support for these individuals, who represent the future of our society, is essential for our sustainable growth. At first, we will support hospitals in effectively implementing the revised residency training curriculum tailored to current times. We will further strengthen the society's evaluation system for this curriculum and enhance our online education system so that necessary training can be easily accessed. To address disparities in the distribution and characteristics of tests/treatments among training hospitals, we will supplement deficient areas through dispatched training and online modules. We will also strengthen demand-tailored education for young specialists in their fields of interest. To overcome low residency application rates, we will engage in various promotional activities targeting medical students, interns, and the general public via YouTube and media outreach, in addition to the recently resumed Nuclear Medicine Camps for Medical Students. Furthermore, we will publish and distribute an official KSNM textbook for medical students to reduce the teaching burden on professors while increasing students' interest in nuclear medicine and improving residency application rates. Although nuclear sciences such as radiochemistry and nuclear physics are essential for the advancement of nuclear medicine, there has been a decline in young scientists entering these fields. To resolve this, we will define the role of nuclear medicine scientists as essential personnel within the evolving clinical environment and establish systems and environments capable of nurturing top talent.

Third, we will strive to enhance the research capabilities of our members and achieve SCI indexing for our official journal, NMMI. Active research by our members is the greatest driving force behind the advancement of nuclear medicine; therefore, we have established a Research Director position and a Research Committee to support these activities. Through these initiatives, we will promote research capacity building, provide relevant information and education, and facilitate thematic networking among interested researchers. We will also actively provide information and education regarding startups, which has become a subject of great interest recently. Achieving SCI indexing for NMMI is one of our society's long-standing goals; it is expected to significantly enhance our international standing and contribute to domestic research development. To this end, centered around the Editorial Board, we will mobilize all available resources to pursue this goal aggressively while encouraging active participation from our members.

Finally, we will strengthen communication with our members and encourage active participation in society activities while achieving institutional improvements. The executive board will actively participate in various online and offline meetings-including regional chapters, study groups, and case conferences-to listen broadly to members' opinions. We will establish diverse channels through which members can easily submit their views on current issues at any time, and we will ensure that the society's responses are communicated promptly.

All my plans for the development of our society are only possible with your active participation and help. We will expand education, promotion, and opportunities for members to participate in areas of society business they are interested in. Just as we strengthened the rights of full members-such as granting voting rights for presidential elections-through the Institutional Improvement TFT, I would be grateful if you could take a greater interest in and actively participate in society activities commensurate with these enhanced rights.

Dear members of the KSNM: it is said that crisis" (危機) is composed of both "danger" (危) and "opportunity" (機). Over the past 65 years since the establishment of our society, our members have had precious experiences turning many dangers into opportunities. To ensure that the many crises surrounding us now become opportunities rather than dangers, I will dedicate myself with proactive leadership alongside all members and executives.

Thank you.