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医学部海外校友会

Dear all friends,

I know many of you, as a student or a staff at Wuhan University School of
Medicine, knew Dr. Hsiang. It was so sad for me to share with you the news
that Dr. Chin-Min Hsiang passed away on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2006, at the Second
Teaching Hospital, after a long illness. Dr. Hsiang was Professor emeritus and
honorary Director of Virus Research Institute at Wuhan University School of
Medicine (formerly Hubei Medical University) and a world-renowned virologist
and teacher. He was 94.

Dr. Hsiang was born in 1913 in Hubei and graduated from Army Medical School in
Guiyang in 1942 during World War II. He worked at China Central Institute of
Serology and Bacteriology and then was recruited to National Central
University Medical School in Nanjing as an assistant professor by Dr. C.P. Li
right after World War II. In 1946, Dr. Hsiang was recommended by Dr. C.P. Li
to study microbiology in the United States. It took him almost a month by boat
to arrive University of Texas where he continued to seek efficient antibiotic
treatment of bacterial infection and to investigate how antibiotics could
inhibit bacterial growth. Later he joined with Dr. Morris Pollard at
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas to focus on poliovirus
biology and transmission when tissue (organ) cultures became the new technique
at the time, and virology as a new discipline was emerging. This eventually
brought him to virology for the rest of his life, including his time in
Cleveland Clinic from 1952-1954 and in The People's Republic of China after
1954. Over the past 60 years, Dr. Hsiang research had covered on Japanese
encephalitis B virus, herpes simplex virus, hemorrhagic fever with renal
syndrome virus (Hantaan virus), and many aspects of immunology, and produced
over 200 publications.

Dr. Hsiang came to the United States for microbiology training just before
China Civil War and Dr. C.P. Li was hoping his return by training to China to
establish a best medical microbiology program in National Central University
Medical School. Unfortunately, China had a three-year Civil War, and Dr. C.P.
Li had to leave China for the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,
Maryland. Establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 shed the
light for many Chinese scholars then in the United States to rebuild the new
China with their scientific expertise. Dr. Hsiang was one of them with this
ambition and was seeking for the opportunity to return to his homeland.
Unfortunately, China had Korean War with the United States. Dr. Hsiang's
attempts were blocked by the US Immigration Office. His homing dream went
through after Korean War. He went back to China in 1954 and came to Hubei
Medical University to repay his personal admiration to Dr. ZHU Yubi, then the
President of Hubei Medical College, who took care of his parent during his
absence from China. Since then, he spent his entire professional life at Hubei
Medical University. As a teacher for more than 50 years, Dr. Hsiang has
trained countless number of students and fellows all over the country and was
remembered by many of world-class scientists. His persistence, good cheer, and
boundless energy had set as model for all of us. As he always said even in
his 90s that "learning goes on as life is continuing".

Dr. Hsiang received many awards. He was honored in 1978 by Central government
at Great Hall and was a recipient of a Class III National Science Advance
Award. He was also honored a Friendship Award by US Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dr Hsiang is survived by his wife, Dr.
Jinxia Chen, and his three sons and families, Mr. Xipei Xiang and family in
Wuhan, Dr. Lianbin Xiang and family in Tennessee, and Dr. Jia-Ning Xiang and
family in California.

A Memorial Service at Wuhan University School of Medicine will be held at a
later date.

Zhi-Ming Zheng, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch
National Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892

[Attachment Ltr0701ProfXiang-1.pdf] (Letter from WUSMOAA President Xiao Shu-yuan)

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