The awarding ceremony of National Medals and National Honorary Titles of the People’s Republic of China was held grandly on the morning of September 29, 2019. President Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, the Chairman of China and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, granted Tu Youyou with a “Medal of the Republic”.

The other day, Jia Zheng, the editor in chief of the magazine Dragon, had an exclusive written interview with Tu Youyou, a contemporary outstanding female scientist and director of the Artemisinin Research Center of the Institute of Chinese Medicine, Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Science.

Part of the interview is as follows.

Q: How are you, Ms. Tu. During the 1980s, the artemisinin, a new anti-malaria drug discovered by you, cured a lot of patients in China. The World Health Organization recommended the composite therapy based on artemisinin as a first therapy against malaria, which has saved millions of lives, reduced the fatality rate of malaria in Africa by 66% and the death rate of children below five years old killed by malaria by 71%. How do you think of the award you have received this time?

A: More than 40 years have elapsed since artemisinin was discovered and I am almost 90 years old. In the past 50 years, artemisinin has changed from a chemical substance to a medicine and been widely adopted as a first choice of anti-malaria drug in clinical treatment of the disease in China and brought health and well-being to the people of the world. Hopefully our scientific workers can shoulder the mission of China in the era and contribute to the scientific innovation and development of the motherland. Chinese medicine is a great treasury of the humankind, which must go out to benefit all people.

Q: In 1969, when you were 39, you accepted a tough research task of “523” anti-malaria medicine from the country and was appointed as the leader of the scientific research team on anti-malaria Chinese medicine. You began to study anti-malaria drugs and overcome a tough issue that has threatened the life safety of humankind for the past thousands of years. What difficulties did you go through at that time?

A: The purpose of 523 was very clear, which was to develop anti-malaria medicine through military and civilian cooperation in development. The treatment drugs developed must be effective and efficient, and the preventive drugs must have a long-term effect. In 1969, when I accepted the “523” anti-malaria research task, as a young scientific researcher at that time, I deeply appreciated the trust from the motherland and realized the heaviness of my responsibility and task. In order to apply the artemisinin extract in clinical treatment sooner, all members of the team scrambled to test the medicine after it passed a preliminary animal safety evaluation. It’s the sense of responsibility of the team that has led the rapid research and development of artemisinin. It only took two years from the discovery that artemisinin had the anti-malaria effect to the first clinical trial of artemisinin.

Q: In 2015, President Xi Jinping mentioned in his congratulatory letter to the 60th anniversary of the founding of Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Science that we should fully unleash the unique advantages of Chinese medicine, promote the modernization and globalization of Chinese medicine. How you think Chinese medicine should develop in the future? How should it embrace the world?

A: Chinese medicine is a great treasury with numerous resources. Artemisinin is a gift of traditional Chinese medicine for the world. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that we should implement the strategy of “Health China” and insist on giving an equal emphasis to Chinese and Western medicine, carry on and develop Chinese medicine. In the context where China has entered a new era of development, Chinese medicine’s status in the world has been rising and its path of globalization will become increasingly stable. We should not only inherit Chinese medicine theories, but also do more in-depth and detailed work in the combination of Chinese and Western medicine and its integration with modern life science, thus making a great contribution to the humankind.

As we often say, curiosity and interest are the driving force for scientific research. This remark is right, as they are many examples to prove it. The research work of the national “523” team has displayed another driving force, which is a high sense of responsibility towards the mission of the country. Driven by such kind of patriotism, there will be dedication and struggle, unity and collaboration, innovation and development. As such, the joint therapy of artemisinin has saved the lives of numerous malaria patients.

Executive Editor: Tian Yishan

Translation: Yishan Tian, Wenjing Chen