Katy’s report at 世界日報:Dr. Ishun Huang (黃怡舜醫師) is to return to Taiwan

(This is Katy’s report at World Journal, 世界日報, published on July 27, 2011)

Dr. Ishun Huang, an otolaryngologist (ENT doctor) has studied for a Ph.D. at University of Pittsburgh, will return to Taiwan at the end of July.  His medical practice will be at the ENT Dept. of Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital (長庚醫院) at Kaohsiung (高雄), Taiwan.

Unlike most research fellows from Taiwan spending a year or two at UPMC, Dr. Huang matriculated for a Ph.D, supported by a five-year scholarship provided by Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, in return Dr. Huang promised his service for the next ten years.  He’ll also assume teaching responsibility and his research experience will help excite and elevate the level of medical research in the university hospital.

Dr. and Mrs. Huang are kind and easy-going, and are happy in giving others in need a hand; they have two lovely children.  Their friends in the greater Pittsburgh area felt sad in seeing them off.  Mr. & Mrs. Edward Hwang (黃呈昌) and Professor & Mrs. Charles Hwang (黃正傑) gave them farewell parties.

Mrs. Huang (育瑛/Sophie) is a science teacher teaching physics and chemistry; she will return to her teaching career.  She is concerned as to the language issue that her two children will face right after returning to Taiwan.  Her eight-year-old daughter must make extra effort in learning Chinese to catch up with her schoolmates.

Many UPMC research fellows coming from Taiwan are very pleased, upon their returning, that they have this valuable life experience, not only can they gain advanced medical knowledge and skill, but also enjoy American quality family life style, making weekend leisure trips with family.

A related news is that David Wang, M.D. Ph.D. (王健晴) at UPMC will have a get-together gathering with friends at his home on August 27.

(The following is Katy’s dispatch)

黃怡舜醫師將返台服務

【賓州匹玆堡訊】 世界新聞網 北美華文新聞、華商資訊

July 27, 2011 06:00 AM 

匹茲堡大學醫學院醫師黃怡舜，將於7月下旬與家人重返台灣高雄長庚醫院耳鼻喉科服務.

一般由台灣外派到匹茲堡大學醫學院的醫生，都是接受一年短訓，黃怡舜獲長庚醫院提供五年獎學金，到匹茲堡大學醫學院修讀博士學位，現在必須返台為長庚醫院服務十年。

由於黃怡舜夫婦為人隨和，且樂於提攜後進，小孩也非常可愛，匹茲堡的朋友都非常不捨他們離去，一再為他們設宴餞別，其中包括黃呈昌、黃正傑教授等。

黃怡舜妻子陳育瑛是理化老師，將回高雄楠梓重執教鞭。她擔心兩個子女返台後馬上面臨中文教育問題，八歲大女兒必須惡補中文才能跟上進度。

不少自長庚醫院來匹大醫學院接受培訓的醫師，返台前都一致表示，能在匹大醫學院受訓，是一種難得的人生經驗。不但有機會比較中美醫療，還向美國同行學習到不少知識，而且在美國比較有家庭生活品質，周末經常全家出遊。

另外，目前正在匹茲堡大學醫學院攻讀醫學博士的王健晴(David Wang)， 也邀請大家8月27日晚到他家聚餐。(張瓊月)

Such CONGENIAL farewell parties

I read more Virginia Woolf’s letters and diaries than her novels. In her letter to Quentin Bell (her nephew) in 1929, she wrote (after writing a lengthy letter),

“God! I had not meant to run at this rate; but this big hand and the pleasure of writing to so CONGENIAL [Virginia’s upper case] a CORRESPONDENT has—or have—seduced me.”

We recently attended several farewell parties as two physicians will be returning to Taiwan (學成歸國) after completing their studies/research at University of Pitt/UPMC. All attended had a good time getting together because of so CONGENIAL a group just like Virginia Woolf felt about her nephew.

“May you have fair winds and following seas!(一帆風順)” We read this walking out of Red Lobster restaurant at Washington; it is appropriate to say this to our friends.

July 2, 2011

July 9, 2011

July 14, 2011

A farewell party for Drs. Alex & Amy Lin and the cream of the crop doctors from Taiwan

If you visited this blog once in a while you might come across the write ups of the achievements of doctors from Taiwan, who were the visiting research fellows or Ph.D. students at UPMC/U. of Pittsburgh over the years. We have good fortune to know most of them, thanks to Katy’s well informed sources and connections. Quiet and reserved that I am, I am usually known as Katy’s husband only. But, fortunately I got to know them relatively well before they completed their studies. We usually met them at the various Taiwanese Americans gatherings; it didn’t escape my notice that more often than not it was at Edward & Mei Hwang’s home.

It was again such a delightful occasion yesterday (March 12) that the Hwangs opened their home and hearts for the farewell party for Drs. Alex & Amy Lin (林志文 & 蔡美杏), who will return to Taiwan in April. Hwang’s lovely house is as spacious and gracious as their hearts are. We all enjoyed scrumptious food and good company, so congenial an atmosphere!

You may or may not know that these doctors are all cream of the crop among the doctors in Taiwan. They continued to lead and shine in their respective fields upon returning. A post of “We share the 5th successful intestine transplant by Dr. Yun Chen (陳芸) with pride and delight” on 3/5/11 is a prime example. Dr. Chen, a pediatric surgeon, did her transplant research at UPMC 5-6 years ago. She is presently the only one doing the intestine transplant in Taiwan.

Dr. Yur-Ren Kuo was selected as the recipient of the Gordina Traveling Fellow Award—the highest and most prestigious award of the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery in 2009; only one doctor was selected a year in the whole world. He had to travel to give lectures in the top-notch hospitals across the globe. We met him again when he came back to give a lecture at UPMC in October 2009.

I recall Dr. Chung Cheng Wang was also at UPMC when Dr. Yun Chen was here. We still have fond memory of their friendship. Dr. Wang was honored with the Asian Outstanding Young Urologist Award last year. He is the author of a popular book by the name of “攝護腺肥大 小case” (The small cases of the enlarged prostate gland—Dear, how come you’ve grown?). He is coming to present his recent research at next American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting at Washington, D.C. in May. We met with him when he presented his research at AUA in Chicago two years ago; Joy also met him two years prior. Dr. Wand entertained Joy and several of her fellow medical students then at the top of John Hancock Tower in Chicago; that was an unforgettable dinner for all.

Katy’s dispatch to World Journal (世界日報) published on Feb. 17 reporting Dr. Cheng-Hung Lin (林承弘) being the recipient of the Young Investigator Award by the American Transplant Congress (ATC). With the award comes with the honor and privilege of giving a talk at the 2011 American Transplant Congress to be held in Philadelphia April 30 to May 4. That report proves the most popular among Katy’s dispatches; there have been nearly 1,500 hits online. Dr. Lin was also a research fellow at UPMC before he moved on to Johns Hopkins Hospital last December.

Dr. Ishun Huang will defend his work for Ph.D. before a panel of experts at the University of Pittsburgh soon. Drs. Hsao-Hsun Hsu, also a research fellow at UPMC, will complete his work and will return to Taiwan in August. Dr. Hsu has done most of the cases of lung transplants in Taiwan. We’re talking about the transplant pioneer, Dr. Thomas Starzl, last night. He’s been dubbed as the Father of Transplant and has almost single-handedly lifted UPMC to the status of one of the most eminent research hospitals among the nation. Dr. Starzl was the one credited for the developments of cyclosporine (from 1979) and tacrolimus (around 1989, leading to FDA approval in 1994) that we now can enjoy the tremendous success of transplants of various organs.

These are only a few examples that I became aware of; the list is certainly not comprehensive. UPMC will for sure take pride in the achievements of their “alumni”.

Katy’s report at World Journal (世界日報): Dr. C.H. Lin’s Young Investigator Award

You may click the following link to read directly the online version.

http://www.worldjournal.com/view/wjnjpanews/11440348/article-%E6%9E%97%E6%89%BF%E5%BC%98-%E7%8D%B2%E9%9D%92%E5%B9%B4%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E5%AD%B8%E8%80%85%E7%8D%8E?instance=panews

(may click the photo to enlarge it) 

Katy’s dispatch to World Journal (世界日報) published yesterday (Feb. 17) reporting Dr. Cheng-Hung Lin (林承弘醫師) being the recipient of the Young Investigator Award by the American Transplant Congress (ATC). With the award comes with the honor and privilege of giving a talk at the 2011 American Transplant Congress to be held in Philadelphia April 30 to May 4. ATC is a combined organization of the transplant surgeons and non-surgeon transplant specialists.

One day before Dr. Lin and family were to visit us (Feb. 5-6) from Baltimore came the good news (or what Dr. Lin called “the red envelope” —紅包—as it came around the time of the lunar New Year and the award comes with a certificate and a check of $1,000) of this prestigious award by the American Transplant Congress. Katy usually has to travel to Pittsburgh (recently to Morgantown, WV) to chase/catch the news; this time the good “news” came to her and she had plenty of time of doing the “interview”. We truly enjoy their visit and company.

Dr. Lin, an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (長更醫院) / Medical College in Taiwan, was a research fellow at the Division of Plastic Surgery, UPMC until the end of last December when he moved on to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he’ll stay until the end of June.

At age of 38, Dr. Lin also wrote a paper/article based on his work of reconstructive microsurgery, especially of hands and his work of transplant basic science research while at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and sent it to ATC. Dr. Lin was honored and humbled by the ATC Young Investigator Award, which is quite competitive among the young researchers all over the world. He is excited in receiving the award and recognition at the coming 2011 ATC meeting in May. He’ll also give a talk/presentation at a reconstructive surgery meeting in Kentucky in April.

What’s a reconstructive surgeon got to do with transplantation? The face and arm/hand transplants have been successfully done. Dr. Lin attended the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation meeting at Chicago in November 2010. Hearing the appreciative remarks from many patients with successful face and hand transplants is an exalting and touching experience for the reconstructive transplant surgeons. It gives “just a pretty face” a new meaning. The lady not just got her face back; she got her life back, too. It inspires and ignites Dr. Lin’s interest and enthusiasm in reconstructive surgery.

It is hoped that more and more Taiwanese will be, like Americans, the willing donors in the future and that will propel and expedite the advancement in the field of the reconstructive transplant surgery in Taiwan. To be a pioneer leading the development in this field is his goal.

Dr. Lin gave a talk of “Applications of Microsurgery” at a monthly gathering of Taiwanese Bible Class at Pittsburgh in April 2010. He is as modest as he is brilliant. It was an eye opener for all present including many physicians. Slides of near miraculous re-attachments of the machine-severed fingers were shown. He showed us a photo of a woman whose face was severely injured and the reconstructive surgeries restored not only the function but the smile of the face.

Some of the photos were taken during Dr. Lin and family’s visit with us in early February.

The followings are Katy’s dispatch.

林承弘 獲青年研究學者獎
【賓州匹茲堡訊】
February 17, 2011 06:00 AM

來自台灣、精於手部微創整型外科的林承弘醫師，日前獲美國移植學會(American Transplant Congress)遴選為青年研究學者獎(Young Investigator Award)得主，他將於5月該學會在費城舉行年會時領獎，除獲頒獎狀外，他並贏得獎金1000元。

38歲的林承弘，將他歷年來手部整型外科的經驗寫成論文送交美國移植協會，打算4月在肯他基整型外科學會年會及5月美國移植年會中發表，經美國移植學會審核遴選，決定頒給他青年研究學者獎，日前他獲通知將於5月領獎，深以獲得此難得殊榮興奮不已。

林承弘是於2009年被台灣林口長庚美容醫學中心派到美國匹茲堡大學醫學院醫院(UPMC)，預定進修兩年。2010年11月林承弘到芝加哥參加整型外科會議，看到美國換臉及換手的手術極為成功，受惠的病患與他們的整型醫師見面，並發表感想，令他非常感動，重燃他對整型外科的熱情。

林承弘認為，美國有不少人願意捐贈頭部顏面與手，如果台灣捐贈大體的觀念一如美國開放，台灣的肢體移植手術也許會發展得更快更好，他希望兩年後，能幫台灣病患做出全世界最棒的移植手術。

 林承弘去年亦曾受邀在「匹茲堡台灣查經班」發表演講，放映他在台灣替被機器截斷手指的病患接回手指等病例的幻燈片，在他高超醫術與耐心的指導復健，讓病患重新恢復手部功能，令觀者印象深刻。

林承弘目前隨匹大醫學院醫院的整型外科主任，到巴爾的摩的約翰霍普金斯大學醫院，將在該院進修半年後，即返回台灣長庚醫院貢獻所學。(張瓊月)

On language: dough, baklava, farewell party and all

Katy is now known as the baklava lady, her making apple pie made her Americanization nearly complete. But her picking up baklava is beyond me; baklava is a Greek cuisine, not a genuine American food. Sandra said she tried but failed to find a recipe of making baklava online; I said it may be much easier to order it direct from Katy’s kitchen and she also has delivery (外送) service.

We attended a farewell party today (Dr. Cheng-Hung Lin is moving on to Johns Hopkins Hospital, taking his research to another level, before Christmas) and everyone present “with good behavior” (only 14 days to go) so far this year were all rewarded with Katy’s baklava. We also brought baklava to 慰勞 (comfort and reward) the people from Tzu-Chi (慈濟) who’re distributing stuff (blankets, scarf, gloves, stockings etc.) to the less fortunate and less privileged (冬令救濟) in downtown Pittsburgh. Waynesburg friends and neighbors also marvel at Katy's tasty and crunchy baklava.

In addition to the chopped walnuts, Katy uses fillo dough (phyllo pastry sheets) to make baklava (see photo), since this post is part of my “On language” series, I’ll digress to use Holden Caulfield’s (of The Catcher in the Rye) language again.

Holden used dough for ‘money’ (such as a pile of dough); a character (a parent of a student) “made a pot of dough in the undertaking business." After Pittsburgh Steelers beat Baltimore Ravins on Dec. 5, Jerry Hardy vented his complaints about the unfairness of the NFL officiating at FB; he “is tired of the crap officials they assign to Steelers games” and said it’s destructive to his language; to which I responded with Holden’s language.

“If this is your language, here is Holden Caulfield’s language: Damned the referees/judges; the goddam phony morons; Harrison got a big fine; it cost him a pile of dough. Steelers Miller was knocked unconscious; the bastard didn’t even call a penalty. It made me want to turn off the goddam TV and all. I cannot take it; I wanted to puke or something if you want to know the truth. Old Polamalu is good as hell; when he knocked off the goddam ball; he knocked me out”.

Amazing Applications of Microsurgery: by Dr. Cheng-Hung Lin, 林承弘

(This is not a complete set of Dr. Lin’s lecture slides, some of which are deliberately removed, lest it would scare away the faint-hearted; some with facial features are not shown for obvious reason; many are omitted for the interest of length of the article.)

Dr. Cheng-Hung (Luke) Lin, 林承弘, from Taipei Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital (長更醫院) gave a talk of “Applications of Microsurgery” at a monthly gathering of Taiwanese Bible Class at Pittsburgh on April 24.

Dr. Lin is as modest as he is brilliant, he said his talk was 班門弄斧 (display one’s slight skill before an expert). He is an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital / Medical College in Taiwan and is presently a research fellow at the Division of Plastic Surgery, UPMC. There is no better place in the world to learn and do research in the field of tissue/organ transplantation.

It was an eye opener for all, including the several physicians present. Dr. Lin explained that their line of work often may not necessarily deal with life and death, but rather functionality and quality of life, which itself is as important and indispensable. He showed us a photo of a woman whose face was severely injured and the reconstructive surgeries restored not only the function but the smile of the face.

He briefly introduced Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH) system which now has seven hospitals in Taiwan in general and the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in particular. The motto of his mentor, Prof. Chih-Hung Lin is “Dream Big, Work Hard” (築夢, 踏實). He considers himself fortunate to have opportunity to stand on the shoulders of the Giants in his field. He spoke with admiration and appreciation of Dr. M. Samuel Noordhoff, who practically built the Dept. of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at CGMH and is considered the father of plastic surgery.

Some of the photos of the mangled extremity are gross and gory (evidently not for the faint-hearted), a stark contrast with photos taken after reconstructive surgeries, showing a work nothing short of a miracle (We tend to avoid saying ‘miracle’ in the field of medicine, but one has to see it to understand what I said.) Plastic surgeons are often faced with difficult decisions as to what can be saved to restore the function; they can move a toe and re-plant as thumb/finger; an ingenious task that demands the skill of an architect and an artist. Dr. Lin emphasized the importance of preservation of the thumb. Hand surgery is the topic of his focused research and practice.

Dr. Lin said what inspired him to this field is the constant challenges, and a sense of satisfaction after a tough job, seeing a mangled hand to be able to hold a cup, or seeing a crushed face smile again. There is no dull moment in his work, always expects the unexpected. To be able to work at he top-notch medical centers, be it at UPMC or at Chang Gung (長更), exposed him to the fresh idea and innovation in the frontier of medicine.

He explained the concept of composite tissue allotransplantation. Unlike that pathetically simple little organ, the heart, the hand is composed of various types of tissues, such as muscle, nerve, blood vessel, and bone, thus “composite”, and that makes things all the more complicated and tricky to deal with.

A brief history of the invention and evolutional development of plastic surgery was given. Alexis Carrel started it all and he was honored by a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1912 for his work on vascular suture and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs. The four general rules he set up remained true to be followed to this day. Standing the test of time defines greatness.

The success rate of the reconstructive surgeries increased from 74-91% to 96-99% through 1980s, it is attributed to the better equipments such as microscope and “diploscope” with which a surgeon can see the microscopic nerve fibers, and the expanding flap knowledge.

Dr. Lin also ran through a list of the diverse indications of microsurgical reconstruction, details of which is beyond the scope of this writing. We all went home with a better understanding and appreciation of microscopic reconstructive surgeries.