Pohang City hosted a meeting at the POSTECH’s main conference room with major government officials to discuss the future establishment plans for POSTECH’s research-oriented medical science school. A number of high-ranking government officials including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho, Mayor of Pohang Kang-deok Lee, Vice Governor for Administrative Affairs of Gyeongsangbuk-do Kim Hak-Hong, Member of the National Assembly Kim Byung-wook and President Moo Hwan Kim were among the attendees of the meeting.
 Citing the rapid development and social changes in various industries accelerated by the unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic, participants formed a consensus view on the urgent need for innovative bio-industry technology and reform of the medical education system. To this end, establishing a new bio-medical education system is a task of national priority that can no longer wait if Korea is to gain a competitive advantage in the global bio-health market.
 President Moo Hwan Kim said in the meeting, “POSTECH is equipped with outstanding research capabilities and infrastructure, and we aim to realize an innovative medical education model based on science and engineering so that our students can lead the Korean biohealth industry to the world stage."
 The Mayor of Pohang Kang-deok Lee responded positively and promised full administrative support to work together with POSTECH and the academia to fulfill the national task at hand. He, in addition, emphasized how Pohang is the most suited and prepared city to train medical scientists as it fulfills three most important requirements: (1) strong bio-infrastructure, (2) strong ties with the local medical community, and (3) a solution to balanced national development. Accordingly, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Ju-ho acknowledged the collaborative efforts between Pohang city and POSTECH and has promised support from the Ministry of Education.
 Vice Governor for Administrative Affairs of Gyeongsangbuk-do Kim Hak-Hong once again stressed the importance of combining science and engineering knowledge into the field of medical science as the future of the industry lies in: (1) developing predictive devices to forecast a disease, (2) regenerative medicine using artificial organs, and (3) customized new drugs to treat incurable diseases which all require interdisciplinary skills. In particular, Gyeongsangbuk-do has created a bio-research powerhouse in Pohang and Andong, raised subsidies for two years of mandatory research, and built a medical science convergence research center through private investment.
 Meanwhile, research-oriented medical school of POSTECH will benchmark the world's first engineering-based medical science curriculum at the University of Illinois and offer an MD-PhD 8-year combined degree course. This meeting holds a symbolic significance as the heads of ministries all agree on the need to establish a POSTECH medical science school.