He is researching new insights into the diagnosis of biliary sepsis in patients with cholangitis, and he is in a very advanced phase with his project. He is highly active in group meetings and attended all three days of the Progress Report, asking over ten questions each day. Yoon Kee Beck was honored with the Excellent Student Award by the Centre for Translational Medicine.
Yoon Kee Beck is a fifth-year medical student at Semmelweis University, who began his MD-Ph.D. training at CTM this academic year. Previously, he had participated in research as a project student, so he already had insight into the scientific work carried out at the Centre. As an MD-Ph.D. student, he is investigating the characteristics of bile culture organisms in patients with cholangitis undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and receiving empirical antibiotics. “Our team assumes that, despite receiving empirical antibiotics, there would be a high prevalence of positive bile culture in these patients. If our hypothesis is true, clinicians should be aware of the increasing antibiotic resistance and raise the need for routine bile culture to facilitate the switch to targeted antibiotics,” he emphasizes.
Yoon Kee Beck’s second project will be a randomized controlled trial comparing time-to-resolution of infection in bile culture-based targeted versus empirical antibiotic therapy in patients with cholangitis undergoing ERCP. “Until now, there has been no randomized controlled trial addressing this specific question, and we are the first to do so. We are currently in the protocol drafting stage and hope to expand this into a multicenter study. If it is confirmed that targeted antibiotic conversion based on bile culture has a faster time to resolution of infection, clinical guidelines should recommend bile culture in patients with cholangitis undergoing ERCP.”
After obtaining his medical degree, Yoon Kee Beck plans to begin his residency training under his current supervisor, Dr. Balint Erőss. “I hope to become an interventional endoscopist and continue to study how the biliary tract impacts health and how we can provide the best care for patients with biliary tract disorders. I am passionate about research, because the more I delve into my topic, the more I realize that the biliary tract has not been studied in depth before. I believe that with advances in technology, we could gain valuable insights from this system. In addition to research and residency, I want to give back the great mentoring support I received here at Semmelweis University and CTM to younger generations of doctors.”
(Emese Szabó)