Wang Wei, deputy secretary ofthe CPC GZUCM Committeeand president of GZUCM

By Hu Yanfen

　　“To grasp the pulse of the time with the ‘eight-line syndrome differentiation’, follow the tide of the time to ‘inherit and innovate’, and to be the young in the new era with spirit, foundation, integrity and tolerance. At the graduation ceremony of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (GZUCM) in 2024, President Wang Wei used the wisdom of Chinese medicine in his speech to launch a prescription for students to become talented according to the conditions of “people, time and place”.

　　A few months later, in the gymnasium on September 10, Wang Wei stood in the autumn sunshine with nearly 6,000 new students from GZUCM to celebrate their enrollment. Wang Wei sent a message to the newly enrolled: “It is necessary to understand the relationship between the exterior and the inside, and be a GZUCM student who cultivates both inside and outside and has great ambitions; to grasp the relationship between cold and heat, and be a GZUCM student who embraces the time and have integrity; to handle the relationship between the virtual and the real, and be a GZUCM student who can be excellent and tolerant; to treat the relationship between Yin and Yang, and be a doctor who can keep justice and shoulder great responsibilities.”

　　In this way, the wisdom of dialectical treatment and the philosophy of dialectical search combine once again, forming a solid closed loop in the history of Chinese medicine education in GZUCM.

　　On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of GZUCM, Wang Wei received an exclusive interview, explained his conception of the “best era” for the development of Chinese medicine, and how GZUCM resonates with this era with the same frequency, to benefit the world with the wisdom of Chinese medicine.

　　According to Wang Wei, as a “double first-class” university, GZUCM has played a “leading role” in the development of Chinese medicine high education in terms of personnel training, scientific research, social services, cultural inheritance and innovation, and international exchanges and cooperation.

“This is the best of times”

　　On October 24, 2023 local time, the paper titled “Research on the myocardial Protection of Chinese Medicine Tongxinluo in the Treatment of Acute Myocardial Infarction”, led by Professor Yang Yuejin of China National Center of Cardiovascular Diseases and Fuwai Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and participated by 124 hospitals across the country, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (impact factor 120.7), one of the four top medical journals in the world. The results of the study showed that the addition of Tongxinluo capsule on the basis of the recommended treatment can significantly improve the clinical prognosis of patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction for 30 days and 1 year, and provide effective therapeutic drugs for improving the long-term prognosis of acute myocardial infarction.

　　Wang Wei especially added, “The reason why the international medical journal recognized the efficacy of this patent Chinese medicine is that the research method of the Fuwai Hospital team is completely in accordance with the standards of Western medicine. They used the language of modern medicine to prove the efficacy of Chinese medicine.”

　　In Wang Wei’s view, Tongxinluo is by no means an isolated case. Nowadays, Chinese medicine is increasingly showing its advantages, attracting rising attention and winning recognition from the medical community.

　　Wang Wei said that from the perspective of Chinese medicine education, there are currently 25 special universities independently set up across the country, and more than 450 universities have relative majors. The team of Chinese medicine professionals is growing.

　　Taking the “leading role” of Chinese medicine universities ——GZUCM as an example, “Our university adheres to moral education, builds a first-class Chinese medicine high education system with Chinese characteristics and world level, and vigorously develops one of the national double first-class disciplines ——Chinese medicine. At present, 7 disciplines have entered the top 1% of ESI global ranking, among which the discipline of ‘Pharmacology and Toxicology’ entered the top 1‰”.

　　In the past 100 years since its founding, GZUCM has trained 180,000 Chinese medicine professionals for the country and a group of leading figures in the field represented by Wu Yiling and Liu Liang, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

　　Since 1974, the university has trained more than 20,000 senior Chinese medicine teams for the global compound.

　　At present, independent Chinese medicine hospitals have been set up in prefecture-level and above areas of the country, and some prefectures even have more than one. There are also many hospitals integrating Chinese medicine and Western medicine, and many general hospitals have set up special departments of Chinese medicine.

　　In addition, the number of patients served by the special departments of Chinese medicine in general hospitals is close to 1/3 of the total number of patients receiving Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, general hospitals have paid more and more attention to the construction of Chinese medicine specialties and disciplines.

　　GZUCM has always spared no effort in the construction of Chinese medicine hospitals and specialties, and regards them as an important way to face people’s life and health and assume social service responsibilities. There are 4 directly affiliated hospitals, 8 hospitals jointly built with the government, and 30 non-directly affiliated hospitals, among which the First and Second Affiliated Hospital have been selected as national Chinese medicine inheritance and innovation centers, national regional medical construction export hospitals, national clinical research bases of Chinese medicine, and key construction units of high-level hospitals in Guangdong Province. They have also become demonstration for public hospital reform and high-quality development in Guangdong Province.

　　“With the changing spectrum of diseases and human health needs, Chinese medicine has shown its unique advantages in the treatment of diseases such as senile, chronic and public diseases. At the same time, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to the development of Chinese medicine, issued a large number of relevant policies, and some have been well implemented. The acceptance of Chinese medicine by the general public is also increasing. The situation motivates us to deepen reform and improve the level of talent training and scientific and technological innovation.” According to Wang Wei, Chinese medicine has been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, and has been involved from the treatment of critical cases to prevention. The efficacy of Chinese medicine in fighting COVID-19 has been widely recognized at home and abroad. It is worth mentioning that the First Affiliated Hospital of GZUCM has been listed as the base for national severe epidemic prevention and treatment.

　　In order to let traditional Chinese medicine go to the corners of the world where it is most needed, one after another practitioners have traveled to countries and regions ravaged by epidemics.

The school motto stone of Guangdong Special School of Chinese Medicine was unveiled

　　GZUCM is one of the most important representatives of such universities, which possesses independent intellectual property right of artemisinin and malaria treatment solution. It has sent medical services to more than 110 countries to carry out foreign aid missions, significantly reducing malaria cases and deaths of residents in countries such as Comoros. Seven national overseas Chinese medicine centers have been established in Europe and Africa, and five national international cooperation bases have been jointly built with the United States and other countries and regions.

　　At present, the field of traditional Chinese medicine has blown a whirlwind of awareness, when modern scientists at home and abroad in the fields of biology, physics, chemistry, materials and other fields have taken the initiative to join hands with Chinese medicine teams to carry out relevant research. “Medicine is naturally multi-disciplinary, and I think this is the best time in history when talents from various disciplines are actively converging on Chinese medicine.” Wang Wei said.

To Reform for Integrated Medicine

　　On September 15, Fan Daiming, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the 2024 High-quality Development Conference of Hospitals in Central China that the current disciplinary development and medical professional technology of hospitals are too detailed and lack an integrated medical view. If the medical development is constantly reducing dimension and differentiation, it is easy for some medical staff to “see the trees, not the forest”, and even appear “treat the head pain from only the head, foot pain only the feet” deviation, resulting in waste of medical resources and tension between doctors and patients. 

　　The problems raised by Academician Fan Daiming are widespread all over the world and are the obvious limitations of the development of modern medicine so far. Wang Wei said that the “integrated medical concept” proposed by Fan echoes the needs of the time. Modern medicine, if containing only Western medicine, can hardly be said to be the best era of medicine.

　　Wang Wei analyzed that the object of medical treatment should be the whole body, and the idea is winning wider consensus. Chinese medicine especially emphasizes the holistic view. But why is the current development of Chinese medicine not as good as Western medicine? Chinese medicine has originated in China thousands of years ago and developed according to Chinese thinking, which is remarkable, since the traditional medicine of other nationalities has been basically replaced by Western medicine. The reason why Chinese medicine still maintains strong vitality is that it has a complete theoretical system and long-term accumulation of clinical practice. Western medicine is the product of modern science, and modern scientific standards dominate the world standard system. However, for a long time, Chinese medicine lacks the ability to explain basic theories with modern science, and it is inevitable that it has “aphasia” in the world medical discourse system.

　　Chinese medicine research methods are changing. “We also use randomized controlled studies (RCT), cohort studies and other commonly used research designs in epidemiology and medical research to analyze the efficacy of Chinese medicine with clinical indicators such as mortality and tumor shrinkage data,” Wang said. “More and more such studies are being conducted and the results are becoming more abundant, confirming the effectiveness of Chinese medicine from different aspects, ” Wang said.

　　Among them, universities have made great strides in the modernization of Chinese medicine research methods. At present, GZUCM has 10 national key laboratories such as the National key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Syndromes, the National Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Dampness Syndrome jointly built by provinces and Ministries, the National Innovation Platform for the integration of production and education in medical research, and the National Medical Center, and has established industry-university-research cooperation with 15 prefectures and cities inside and outside the province. The university has also jointly built the Intelligent Chinese Medicine Research Institute (Chinese Medicine Big Data Center) with the International Mathematics Center of Peking University and the universities from Greater Bay Area. Through the innovation of Chinese medicine theory and technology, the university has promoted the intersection of medical industry and spawned more achievements.

　　Wang Wei further pointed out: “Especially at present, Western medicine is facing many difficulties, and often seems powerless in the treatment of many major chronic diseases, geriatric diseases and comorbidities. Western medicine takes targeted and adversarial therapy as its core idea, relies on the modern scientific basis of mathematics, physics and chemistry, and the basic conception that structure determines function, which gradually reveals its limitations. In contrast, Chinese medicine emphasizes holistic conditioning, slow adjustment of chronic diseases and urgent adjustment of acute diseases, which is very advanced in concept. Therefore, the combination of Chinese and Western medicine is the best path, and China has unique advantages in the aspect.”

　　“The ‘integrated medical concept’ mentioned by Academician Fan is not only the integration of various disciplines of Western medicine, but also means the integration of Chinese and Western medicine. Such integration provides more options and possibilities for solving difficult diseases. Integrated Medicine reflects the patient-centered concept, and when implemented in the reform of medical colleges and universities, it involves personnel training, curriculum system setting, internship system and other aspects, which is a systematic project.” Wang Wei said.

　　This systematic project is first reflected in the reform of discipline construction.

　　In this regard, Wang Wei introduced that GZUCM established the School of Medical Information Engineering as early as 21 years ago, focusing on the training of talents in the medical and health informatization, biomedical engineering and IT industries. The university not only has two provincial-level first-class undergraduate programs of “Medical Information Engineering” and “Biomedical Engineering”, but also has established master’s and doctoral programs of “Traditional Chinese Medicine Informatics”. After years of development, the discipline of TCM Informatics has formed a complete talent training system of bachelor, master and doctor, featuring the combination of medicine and industry and the in-depth integration and innovation of multiple disciplines. It has basically established the interdisciplinary talent training model and stable research direction of the combination of medicine and industry.

　　At present, GZUCM is taking the construction of “New Medical Science” as an opportunity to promote the deep cross-integration of Chinese medicine and multi-disciplines, optimize the undergraduate, master and doctoral curriculum system, pay attention to the convergence and innovation of modern medicine, and the integration of modern information technology disciplines, build a modern knowledge system of TCM, and establish a cross-university and cross-disciplinary cooperation mechanism for talent training.

　　Wang Wei specifically introduced that GZUCM is choosing subjects that are closely related to medicine, and adopting a cross-university approach to build interdisciplinary disciplines. At present, the university’s education office is carrying out a project to offer courses related to engineering big data in the nine-year medical and pharmaceutical majors in order to train talents who can meet the needs of future medical, education and scientific research. In addition, the university will select a group of students for second degree study, with the aim of integrating Chinese medicine with artificial intelligence, big data and other disciplines.

　　There is still much room for progress in the disciplinary reform surrounding “integrated medicine”. Wang Wei took the example of “101 Plan”, launched by the Ministry of Education since the end of 2021, expanding from basic disciplines such as computer science to new medical science and new agricultural science, aiming to solve the big problem of talent training mode through micro places in curriculum reform, and realize the breakthrough reform, innovation and development of high education.”At present, our school has participated in the Chinese medicine ‘101 Plan’ implemented by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, and Chinese pharmacy has not yet participated. Next, our university will fully rely on the Ministry of Education’s Chinese Medicine ‘101 Plan’ and the national medical research platform for integration of production and education, develop the construction of core Chinese medicine courses and practical projects, continue to promote the training of top innovative talents in basic Chinese pharmacy, and constantly improve the construction of core courses and textbooks.”

Inheritance and Innovation are the Call of the Time

　　For Chinese medicine, inheritance and innovation have always been the call of the time. 

　　“Unfortunately, although there are tremendous classics of Chinese medicine, many of which are still dusty in libraries, museums, libraries and even among the people. We need a large number of professionals to dig, sort out and apply them. They should not only be applied to disease diagnosis and treatment, but also to continuous innovation to promote theoretical and technological progress.” said Wang. 

　　In Wang Wei’s view, there are several following ways to inherit Chinese medicine: 

　　Firstly, at the national level, universities and research institutes have put a lot of effort into the excavation, collection and sorting of documents. Special teams have been set up to study ancient books, including lost and rare ones. Recently, the People’s Medical Publishing House released the “Rare Overseas Chinese ancient Books Series of Heavy, Light and Rare Edition of Medical Canon” and digital resource library. This is an important part of inheriting the fine Chinese culture.

　　Secondly, we should strengthen the study and education of classics in universities. Most medical colleges and universities organize students to conduct classic-level examinations, and GZUCM has also established the Department of Chinese Medicine Classics.

　　In addition, GZUCM also adopts the “living state inheritance” model, that is, the teacher and apprentice model. The university has opened a number of experimental Chinese medicine classes, such as “Tietao Class” (five-year program) , Chinese medicine (“ 5+3 “integration),” Guowei Class “and” Daihan Chinese Medicine Class ”. And “Lingnan Class” combining  “university-teachers-regional medicine” education system and the Shenzhen “Bianque Class” (major in acupuncture and massage), strengthen clinical skills of acupuncture and moxibustion, allow outstanding freshmen to consult with Chinese medical masters and famous Chinese doctors and learn their thinking, principles and prescriptions, clinical diagnosis and treatment techniques. We let the classics of Chinese medicine return to the clinic, and the teacher education runs through the whole process of clinical practice teaching. The school even employs people who have special skills and characteristics in diagnosis and treatment to come to the school or affiliated hospital for training, clinical diagnosis and follow-up. With a multi-pronged approach, the school’s mentorship education has been very effective.

　　As for innovation, Wang Wei stressed that Chinese medicine should be combined with modern science. He said that the unique thinking mode, overall concept and logical thinking of Chinese medicine should be incorporated into the research paradigm and track of modern science, and modern scientific methods should be used to conduct research from an empirical perspective. “GZUCM has achieved high-quality integration of Chinese medicine and Western medicine in clinical practice. At present, almost all departments in affiliated hospitals adopt the diagnosis and treatment model of integrated Chinese and Western medicine. For example, in the treatment of gynecology, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, tumor, immunity and skin diseases, the combined methods have all achieved good results. From the perspective of drug innovation, the most typical example is the great contribution made by GZUCM in the research of artemisinin. In addition, it has also achieved fruitful results in the field of new drug innovation, and many of its proprietary Chinese medicines come from the research results of our university’s experts.”

　　“The awakening starts from the people. The ancestors of GZUCM taught us as early as 100 years ago that the development of Chinese medicine should keep pace with the time. ”

To Win on the Third Track

　　Who will write the new four TCM classics? Wang Wei put forward the question of Chinese medicine development.

　　“The ancients wrote the four great classics of Chinese medicine without conducting basic research or clinical trials, which are ‘big data’ with specific significance in ancient times,” he pointed out. Now, with the development of scientific big data and artificial intelligence, it is possible to form new TCM classics and theories. Artificial intelligence and big data are not only technical means, but also one of the most important ways for Chinese medicine to truly embark on the track of independent development.”

　　According to Wang Wei,the development of modern medicine follows two paths: one is the road driven by basic research, and the other is driven by clinical research. Both paths require strong financial and talent support, while Chinese medicine is relatively weak in these two directions. However, with the application of big data and artificial intelligence, the development of Chinese medicine has ushered in a third path, especially in clinical big data, where China has unique advantages. Although this new path is promising, it also faces many challenges, especially the need to fundamentally transform the entire clinical diagnosis and treatment data.

　　According to statistics, the average Chinese sees up to seven medical consultations per year, meaning nearly 8 billion out-patient visits. Such numbers bring a huge amount of medical information. Wang mentioned that traditional Chinese medicine’s “three-cause-tailored” treatment principle needs to integrate more data in the future, including factors such as environment and climate. Wang Wei pointed out that integrating the diagnosis and treatment information of patients across the country with contemporaneous data on the occurrence of diseases in time, region and other fields can produce unexpected analytical results. At present, the causes of many diseases are still unclear, mainly because the observation window is too small, and the application of AI and big data can help us expand the window.

　　“How will we understand disease in the future? If everyone has a health record from birth to death, looking at millions or tens of millions of cases, through artificial intelligence, big data analysis, we can have a clearer understanding of the impact of various factors on life, death and illness. To do this, hospital systems need to incorporate this data. It’s hard to get through the data link, but if we realize how important it is and start laying the groundwork, over time it will be possible.”

　　“GZUCM has data generated by a number of affiliated hospitals and co-built hospitals, which has the advantage of developing the third track of Chinese medicine. We are considering starting from some departments to pilot, form a set of paradigm, and then gradually expand. This is of course very difficult, and apart from the huge investment in people, money and goods, it also requires a subversive transformation of the management system,” said Wang.

　　The report of the 20th CPC National Congress made important arrangements for accelerating the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, emphasizing adherence to the “four aspects ”, and focusing on people’s life and health is one of them.” I think the value of AI and big data in medicine is more significant because it directly targets people,” Wang Wei said. “People’s genetic background, intergenerational transmission, the development law and mutual influence of diseases, susceptibility, etc., are difficult to draw accurate conclusions based on past methods. For example, in the past, some developed countries have studied the correlation between lung cancer and smoking, and reached an overall rule, but these conclusions were based on statistical probabilities of large populations. In the future, we need to identify the effects of smoking and many other related factors on specific individuals, as well as the probability of an individual developing lung cancer. This will be very useful for smoking cessation campaigns and lung cancer prevention.”

　　This is the “best era” for the development of Chinese medicine. Standing at the new starting point of 100 years of development, GZUCM is firmly entering this era full of infinite possibilities.