Wang is also noted for nurturing many of China’s top researchers and doctors, including Health Minister Chen Zhu who, along with his wife Chen Saijuan, were Wang’s students. Both are noted hematologists. 

 

At 86, Wang Zhenyi(王振义Wáng Zhènyì) still makes weekly rounds of the hematology(the branch of medicine that deals with diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs) ward at Shanghai’s Ruijin Hospital, chatting with patients and discussing cases with the doctors.

Wang’s caring, dedication(dedication is a message which is written at the beginning of a book, or a short announcement which is sometimes made before a play or piece of music is performed, as a sign of affection or respect for someone) and energy are legendary, but so is his research that led to a leukemia treatment breakthrough in the mid-1980s. The treatment Wang developed dramatically increases the remission and survival rate of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) that was formerly considered highly fatal. It uses all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a vitamin A derivative, alone or in conjunction with chemotherapy(chemotherapy is the treatment of disease using chemicals. It is often used in treating cancer).

The treatment has been used successfully for many years around the world and has been called the Shanghai Protocol when combined with arsenic trioxide, a traditional Chinese medicine.

Last month, Wang and Shi Changxu, age 90, received China’s top science and technology award for 2010 from President Hu Jintao at a ceremony People’s Great Hall. Shi, an engineer and metals specialist, pioneered the use of super-alloys.

Bombarded by news coverage and requests for interviews, Wang recently spoke with Shanghai Daily about his life’s work. Despite the accolades, just the latest of many over the years, Wang is modest and calm.

“I only found an effective treatment for one kind of leukemia(malignant neoplasm of blood-forming tissues; characterized by abnormal proliferation of leukocytes; one of the four major types of cancer), it’s just one of around 20 types of the disease,” Wang said.