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Photo: Bryan Goodchild
Ben Gerber, MD, MPH, professor of population & quantitative health sciences, is spending the fall semester at Hallym University in South Korea as a visiting professor, teaching a graduate-level course on electronic health record data analysis with R, an open-source data program, while exploring opportunities to expand on the partnership between Hallym and UMass Chan Medical School.
Dr. Gerber will be investigating collaborative ventures in areas including remote patient monitoring and chronic disease management, as well as contributing to the development of Hallym University’s health data center and serving in an advisory capacity in the Medical Artificial Intelligence Talent Development Program, an exchange program between the two institutions.
“Our department already has several ongoing collaborations with Hallym for research. I will be contributing to research related to artificial intelligence and some shared interests in predictive modeling,” Gerber said. “My hope is by going to Hallym, we can further develop our ongoing relationships and keep them sustainable in the future. I think at UMass Chan, we have a lot to benefit, and I believe that Hallym feels the same.”
Gerber is traveling to South Korea with his wife, Rebecca, an electronic resources librarian in the Lamar Soutter Library at UMass Chan.
“I’m curious to see what Korean academic libraries are like and what ideas or programs might be transferable to UMass Chan,” Rebecca said. “As Ben shares what he sees on the medical side of this partnership, I’d also like to explore what library resources could support these exchanges with Hallym and future collaborators.”
Since January, the Gerbers have been enrolled in online courses to learn Korean. They will be staying in Chuncheon, Gangwon province, where Hallym is located. Their home for the next three months will be roughly a six-minute walk to Hallym’s campus. Rebecca will volunteer teaching English at an after-school program for first- and second-grade students.
They’re looking forward to experiencing Korean culture for the first time.
“I think we both have an interest in the history of the places we travel to. We want to absorb the culture. I am hoping to learn how to cook Korean food and get a real feel for what their day-to-day lives are like,” Rebecca said.
Dr. Gerber will be teaching the electronic health record data analysis course with Dong-Soo Shin, PhD, RN, a professor at the School of Nursing & Research Institute of Nursing Science at Hallym University, adjunct professor of population & quantitative health sciences at UMass Chan and center director of the Medical Artificial Intelligence Talent Development Program.
“These next three months can go by pretty quick, so an important part of my role over there is taking this opportunity to contribute to our ongoing collaboration and find creative ways to keep it sustainable,” Gerber said. “I’m hoping we can inspire other UMass Chan students, trainees and faculty to consider participating in this effort in the future, and that we will continue hosting students and faculty of Hallym University at UMass Chan. More diversity of thought will lead to innovative ideas, better outcomes and better research productivity.”
Collaboration between Hallym and UMass Chan began in 2023 and has expanded to include student exchanges, joint research, faculty collaboration and nursing exchanges. In 2024, the schools signed a memorandum of understanding supporting work on an AI platform to help rural physicians reduce mortality in critical intracranial hemorrhage cases.
Since the start of 2026, Hallym students and faculty have visited UMass Chan, the schools launched the UMass-Hallym Exchange Program and UMass Chan medical students spent four weeks at Hallym learning about South Korea’s healthcare system and culture.
