The 84 - year - old famous Chinese female pharmacists Tu youyou becomes one of the winners in the 2015 Nobel Prize for medicine, she is also the 12th women who had won the Nobel Prize for medicine ever. She has always been committed to the research on the basis of inheriting the essence of traditional Chinese medicine, using modern science and technology, explore active ingredients in Chinese medicine, especially do further study in the field of malaria and immune diseases, and develop new drugs.
Tu was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China on 30 December 1930. Tu worked at the Academy of Chinese Medicine in Beijing after graduation. She was promoted to a researcher in 1980 only after the Chinese economic reform, and in 2001 promoted to academic advisor for doctorate candidates.
Tu Youyou is typically described as a "modest" woman in China. Before 2011, Tu had been obscure for decades, and is described as "almost completely forgotten by people". Fortunately, she is the Chief Scientist in the Academy currently. Her work was published anonymously in 1977, and for decades she received little recognition for her research with Mission 523. In the 70 s, Tu youyou leaded sciences research group creating a new antimalarial drug- artemisinin and double hydrogen artemisinin. Artemisinin acts as a first-line treatment of malaria has saved countless lives, most of them are children who live in the poorest regions in the world.
The ancient Chinese remedy plays an important role in the process of medical technology development. It has made great contribution to the field of difficult miscellaneous diseases that couldn't be cured by west medicines. This time the Nobel Prize winner Tu youyou draws public's attention to ancient Chinese remedy again. The ancient Chinese remedy has over thousands years of history. It advocates "watch”, “listen", "ask" and "feel the pulse”. The main principle is to cure diseases from its root and help the body to get recovery soon. In ancient times, when medical technology didn't develop well, the western medicine hadn't been used so widely in China, and the ancient Chinese remedy acted as Savior for Chinese people. However, with the quick pace of medical technology, the ancient Chinese remedy plays less important role in medical field.
Although western medicine could cure the disease more quickly, the advantages of the ancient Chinese remedy couldn't be ignored. TCM relies more on the enhancement of human body's self-ability to fight against diseases. TCM lays more stress on "maintenance" than "treatment". Western Medicine simply fights against diseases by human medical technology and ignores human's self-defense and self-repairing ability. TCM regards the human body as an integral whole and thinks that all of the organs and tissues are bound together. Western medicine has its special advantages for treatments of trauma and infectious diseases. However, TCM has great effect on chronic diseases which are caused by body functions and decline of physical condition and can't be replaced by western medicine. What's more, the ancient Chinese remedy also has significant advantages in treating gynecological disorders and the most famous one is herbal supplement of Fuyan Pill.
The Nobel Prize winner Tu youyou is just a beginning, with so many advantages and significant shining points of TCM, greater attention would be paid to it. There is no doubt that TCM will make greater progress to the medical field in the future and will become more and more popular in the world.
