Cardiologist donates prize money aiming to help Taiwan win Nobel Prize in medicine

心臟科權威捐出退休金以幫助台灣培育人才以利獲得諾貝爾醫學獎

Lien Wen-pin given lifetime service award by Vice-President Chen Chien-jen

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Respected cardiologist Lien Wen-pin (連文彬) was honored with a lifetime service award at the 29th Taiwan Medical Dedication Awards (醫療奉獻獎) held in Taipei on Saturday (Oct. 26).

The award was presented to the 92-year-old Doctor Lien by Vice-President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁). Lien is a lecturer at Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU), and a graduate of National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Medicine, who also worked for many years at NTU hospital.

Lien previously served as a medical counselor for former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), and served as Lee’s chief physician for 11 years, reports CNA. As an educator at NTU and KMU, Lien has also made significant contributions to cultivating medical expertise in Taiwan, personally training many of the country’s top cardiologists.

Lien was also a physician on the team that performed the first successful open-heart surgery in Taiwan back in 1960. He is also responsible for establishing the “The New Century Health Care Promotion Foundation” (跨世紀醫療促進基金會), which sponsors events and organizations promoting state-of-the-art medical practices and research in Taiwan.

Upon receiving the lifetime service award and the prize of NT$4 million (US$130,000), Lien said he will donate the money to the foundation. He hopes that his lifetime work and the donation will help to cultivate a new generation of medical specialists in Taiwan and that one day a doctor from Taiwan will be honored with a Nobel Prize in medicine.