Chen Yiru
Dr. Chen Weiming has been practicing medicine for more than 30 years and has completed more than 30,000 orthopedic surgeries. He has been holding forceps for a long time, and the joint under the thumb of his left hand has long been deformed, with a large bone spur protruding. Asked why he didn't deal with it, he smiled with satisfaction and gently touched his hand with bone spurs, "That is my mark of glory." It is these hands that have helped many bone cancer patients regain their lives.
Let Taiwan's medical strength shine in the world. Beirong President Chen Weiming (right) was awarded the 15th New Academician of the Industrial Research Institute. (Provided by ITRI) Bone cancer commonly occurs in teenagers. In the past, many children faced the desperate situation of amputation or even loss of life. However, the Beirong team not only increased the survival rate to over 70%, but also used superb bone transplantation and reconstruction methods to save the limbs of many patients. These children later not only got married and had children, but also brought oily rice and red eggs back to see him. Chen Weiming laughed and said that this is also a contribution to Taiwan's population, as if he had children in groups.
"Dad Chen", who has many children, has a richer soul than anyone else
Chen Weiming once treated a 4-year-old child with long-bone cancer in the thigh. Because he was too young and had extremely thin bones, there was no suitable bone for transplantation. Chen Weiming boldly transplanted the upper arm bone donated by a young woman in the bone bank to the child's thigh bone across parts, allowing the sick child to stand up again. Unexpectedly, 15 months after the transplant, the transplanted leg bone unfortunately broke. Chen Weiming teamed up with the Taiwan Artificial Joint Factory to personally draw and design an extremely thin artificial joint and insert reinforcements. After 24 years, the child who faced possible amputation is now able to move freely and has graduated from medical school.
The children in Beirong Bone Cancer's exclusive 93 ward are able to continue to walk steadily on the road of life because of the efforts of Chen Weiming and his team. Chen Weiming is also nicknamed "Dad Chen" by the sick children. He pointed to the hundreds of thank-you cards drawn by children in his office drawer and said, "This is my greatest wealth! No money can buy the joy of bringing patients back from the dead."
Prudence and professionalism, innovation can withstand the test of time
This attitude of treating patients as if they were family members also allowed him to uphold the original intention of "comparison with others" and the innovative philosophy of "change only remains unchanged" in medical technology, and make great contributions to clinical medical care and national epidemic prevention.
In 1997, when Chen Weiming was studying at the Mayo Clinic, the world's number one medical center in the United States, he saw expensive artificial bone fragments being used abroad to fill the cavities left after tumor curettage. After returning to China, he determined to promote industry-university cooperation to process patients' replaced joints or the bones of deceased loved ones into affordable and high-quality transplant materials, which cost only one-tenth of those in the United States.
In the past, bone cancer could only be treated by transplanting heavy metal artificial joints or amputating limbs. He also led the team to develop "biological reconstruction" technology. He was the first to propose preserving the patient's bones, subjecting the cut bones to high-dose external radiation to kill cancer cells, and then transplanting them back into the human body. "Help patients save their future!" Chen Weiming recalled that in 2000, when he first reported at the World Congress in the United Kingdom, foreign experts thought that Taiwan could not afford the cost of artificial joints before developing this method. "They thought I was a monster." Now it has become the mainstream of bone tumor treatment worldwide.
In addition, in response to the pain points of various artificial joints due to their age and hard-to-find parts, Chen Weiming also invented a set of artificial joint "treasure boxes" that contain dozens of commonly used ball head parts of different sizes, so that patients do not have to knock out the entire joint and have it redone due to a loose acetabular cup or worn gaskets. Over the past 30 years, Chen Weiming has developed at least dozens of new surgical techniques. All inventions are not patented and are disclosed free of charge.
Behind the seemingly bold innovation, Chen Weiming is actually more like a cautious gatekeeper. He constantly emphasizes that innovation must adhere to the eight-character motto: "patient safety, long-term efficacy." Many of his surgeries have been followed for 2 to 30 years to ensure that innovation can withstand the test of time. Because of this caution, he even protected Beirong from a huge medical disaster.
More than ten years ago, a manufacturer developed an artificial joint with a "metal head on metal cover". He was keenly skeptical that the metal on both sides would constantly rub against each other, and if metal ions were released, it might harm the patient, so he decided not to use it for the time being. Sure enough, in less than 2 years, this artificial joint was found to cause bone dissolution, heart failure and even death in patients. It was removed from the market worldwide. Beirong was the only medical center in Taiwan that did not use it at the time, and successfully kept patients healthy. Therefore, Chen Weiming reminded, "Innovation must be based on a foundation and must have professionalism and judgment."
In the face of the hot AI trend, Chen Weiming believes that there is nothing wrong with making good use of AI, but you must not rely too much on it, blindly follow it, and lose your creativity and thinking ability. "If you ask AI everything, everyone will get the same answer, and one day you will reach a dead end."
Innovative drive-thru quarantine to protect people’s health
When Taiwan's COVID-19 outbreak broke out in 2021, the country was on alert level 3. He had already sensed an increase in the number of confirmed cases in the hospital, so he led his team to quietly "train" in the laboratory to develop a precise pooling nucleic acid test (Pooling PCR), which can process a large number of specimens in a short period of time, significantly increasing Beirong's testing capacity from 1,600 people a day to 8,000 people.
When a cluster of infections broke out at the Miaoli semiconductor factory and the lifeline of science and technology was at stake, he wore an isolation gown under the 35-degree scorching sun and personally led the team to the front line. "Treat the inspection as an emergency!" He dispatched ambulances to intensively transport specimens, and completed inspection reports for nearly 5,000 people in two days, allowing the industry to quickly resume work. For large-scale testing such as the three major fruit and vegetable wholesale markets in Beinong and the Dunmu Fleet, Chen Weiming led his team to stay at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall for 23 days and set up an innovative "drive-thru" quarantine station, with a total of 26,000 people inspected. This precise pooling technology has significantly reduced the cost of self-pay screening for the public, demonstrated extreme efficiency, and has become a huge force in stabilizing society during the epidemic.
Create pioneering cancer treatment and let the world see Taiwan
In 2023, Beirong officially opened Taiwan's first "Heavy Ion Cancer Treatment Center", focusing on the "king of cancers" pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. Not only is the construction progress ahead of the United States, but the treatment results are also better than the pioneer Japan, and miracles of recovery have been seen in many patients. Chen Weiming was not surprised by this, "Japan Heavy Ion is a single institution, but Beirong is a hospital. We combine immunotherapy, targeted therapy, Da Vinci surgery and other teams to 'work in groups', and the effect will be added."
Chen Weiming admitted that the annual operating cost of heavy particle equipment is nearly 500 million yuan, which is not easy to recover. However, he insists on not raising the self-pay price, and even reserves 2% of the free quota for disadvantaged patients. "Human life is priceless, and I think it is worth it; I don't want this machine to become a privilege for the rich. This is our social responsibility." Now Beirong is also working on establishing the "Boron Neutron Capture Treatment Center", a pioneer technology in cancer treatment, which is expected to be completed in 2027.
These efforts have also allowed the world to see Taiwan's medical strength. This year, Beirong jumped to 174th in the ranking of the world's best hospitals by Newsweek, ranking first in Taiwan for three consecutive years. It has attracted many advanced countries in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries to come to learn from it. Even the Mayo Clinic Medical Center came here to set up a heavy particle laboratory in Beirong.
Chen Weiming invented the Artificial Joint Treasure Box, which contains dozens of commonly used ball head parts of different sizes to solve the problem of hard-to-find parts for artificial joints over time. (Provided by ITRI) Even though he became the dean and his official duties became even busier, Chen Weiming still insists on performing 800 surgeries per year. "Operations are the most stress-relieving moment for me, and I have to make quick decisions during operations, which also cultivates my decisive decision-making in management." Therefore, whether it is heavy hospital administration or urgent national epidemic prevention, he can accurately identify the problem and prescribe the right medicine.
This is Chen Weiming, a contemporary benevolent doctor with both integrity and warmth. He uses superb technology and forward-looking innovation to inject warmth into cold medicine. In the future, these slightly deformed but extremely firm hands will continue to write the heart-warming legend of Taiwan’s medical care.
