Top 10 Most Famous Chinese Doctors

Dr Niu Lizhi by Shalabowa – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Most Famous Chinese Doctors

As with many other cultures, Chinese medical activities probably began long before there were written languages or records. Archaeological material proves that the roots of China’s written language may extend back some seven thousand years, but the first evidence comes from the Shang dynasty. The Shang people were religious and it was believed illness resulted from upsetting an ancestor, being cursed or an evil demon entering the body and being cursed. So often cures involved placating ancestors with suitable rituals.

 Physicians demonstrated that the human body was an organic whole and that its health and illness were intimately connected to the natural environment, including the five elements. These were wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. This text made a vast and profound impact on successive generations of medical practitioners and scholars and has continually guided Chinese medicine’s clinical application. There are also texts showing that these early doctors were evaluated and tested by more experienced doctors to ensure they attained certain levels of competency.

Let’s look at the 10 most Famous Chinese Doctors.

1. Dr. Niu Lizhi – oncologist

Niu is a surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive cryosurgery for cancers. In 1996, he graduated from the Fourth Military Medical University with a doctoral degree in Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery. 

Lizhi focuses on the treatment of pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, thyroid cancer, peritoneal cancer, and other solid tumours. Together with his team, they have performed nearly ten thousand cases of cryosurgery.

Niu Lizhi is the president of Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital and vice president of the International Society of Cryosurgery. He is a supervisor of a master’s degree course at Jinan University.

2. Dr. Xu Kecheng – gastroenterologist

Xu Kecheng by Shaqianmo – Wikimedia Commons

Kecheng is a specialist in gastroenterology, hepatology, and cancer treatment. He is currently the president of Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital.

Kecheng graduated from Nantong Medical College. He is the honorary chairman of the International Society of Cryosurgery. He was awarded the Bethune Medal in 2012 for his contributions to China’s national healthcare system.

Xu was a professor of internal medicine and director of digestive research at Nantong University. He is the Chief member of the Digestive Disease Committee of the Chinese Association of Integrated TCM and Western Medicine, the head of the National Cancer Research Collaboration Committee. 

3. Dr. Zhong Nanshan – pulmonologist

Nashan is a doctor whose specialty is a pulmonologist. Pulmonology is a medical speciality that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract. It is also known as respiratory, respiratory medicine, or chest medicine.

Zhong gained international fame for managing the SARS outbreak. He was renowned for refuting the official line which downplayed the severity of the crisis. This earned him recognition as one of China’s top 10 medical practitioners.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, which was first identified in Wuhan, Zhong was a leading advisor in managing the crisis, suggesting evidence-based control measures to contain the disease, and sharing the successful treatment plan with the international community.

4. Dr. Gao Yaojie – gynecologist

Dr Gao Yaojie by David Cowhig – Wikimedia Commons

Gao is a gynecologist, academic, and AIDS activist. In her career, Gao surveyed the knowledge of AIDS prevention. Of the more than 10,000 people surveyed, less than 15 percent had a correct understanding of HIV transmission and AIDS prevention, and most of them were utterly ignorant of HIV transmission through blood. 

To expand AIDS prevention education, Gao edited the book The Prevention of AIDS / Venereal Disease, which has been published four times for more than 300,000 copies. Gao has been honored for her work by the United Nations and other Western organizations. 

5. Dr. Ma Xiaonian – Sexologist

Mia is is a physician and professor of sexual medicine. He pioneered the field of sexual medicine and sexology in China. Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions.

Ma’s research on sexual medicine and Chinese sexuality has profoundly influenced cultural and social values in China since the 1980s. His recent sexological work has focused primarily on Chinese female sexuality. 

Xiaonian has won the third prize in the scientific and technological progress of the Ministry of Health. He has been certificated as a sex therapist by the United States Board of Sexology three consecutive times, the only doctor in the Chinese mainland who has received this certification.

6. Dr. Wang Zhenyi – pathophysiologist

A man in a white lab coat by Usman Yousaf – Unsplash

Wang is a pathophysiologist and hematologist. Hematology Is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. Pathophysiology is the study of the disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. 

Wang served as a professor emeritus of Medicine and Pathophysiology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He is most well known for discovering the cure for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

7. Dr. Charles Wang

Wang is a renowned physician, who is a leading figure in the merging of traditional Chinese and Western medicine in medical therapy. 

Charles studied Western medicine at the Shanghai Second Medical University, graduating in 1986. Afterward, he entered the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, where he earned a master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1988. 

Having finished his studies, Wang’s first few years as a medical practitioner were spent serving as a resident. He then became an endocrinologist and a specialist of Chinese medicine at Shanghai’s renowned Ruijin Hospital. Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones.

8. Dr. Emily Ying Yang Chan – humanitarian doctor

Dr. Emily Ying Yang Chan by Cswongccouc – Wikimedia Common

Emily is a humanitarian doctor and public health academic based in Hong Kong. She received her academic training from Johns Hopkins University, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

Emily’s research interests include climate change and health, health and environmental co-benefits, disaster and humanitarian medicine, global and planetary health, violence and injury epidemiology, healthy settings, health needs, program impact evaluation, evidence-based medical and public health interventions in resource deficit settings.

Her community public health resilience and disaster-health-related papers have been used as policy references within the WHO and the Health Emergency Response Office of China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission. 

9. Dr. Li Lanjuan – epidemiologist

Li is an epidemiologist and hepatologist. Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution, patterns, and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. Hepatology is the branch of medicine that incorporates the study of the liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, and pancreas as well as management of their disorders.

Lanjuan developed Li-NBAL, an artificial liver support system that is used to sustain the lives of people suffering from acute liver failure. She also won multiple national awards for her roles in combating the SARS, H1N1, and H7N9 epidemics. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Li left for Wuhan with a team of medical workers from Hangzhou to help combat the epidemic.

10. Dr. Xifeng Wu – epidemiologist

A woman in a laboratory by CDC – Unsplash

Wu is a doctor whose specialty is cancer epidemiology. Cancer epidemiology is the study of the distribution, determinants, and frequency of malignant disease in specific populations. The objective is to define causative factors to formulate preventive strategies for the control of the disease.

Wu is known for designing cohort studies to discover the causes of cancer and potential prevention measures. She and her colleagues conducted studies showing that fifteen minutes of moderate exercise per day can increase lifespan by an average of three years. She also added that eating highly cooked meat can contribute to kidney cancer, and that high-carbohydrate diets can contribute to lung cancer in non-smokers. Chronic diseases such as high blood pressure or diabetes can also contribute to cancer.