2019 AWARDS

Applied Science Category ─ Fu-Chan Wei

Professor Fu-Chan Wei, Academician of the Academia Sinica, leads the research and medical team he founded over 4 decades ago. The team is committed to basic and clinical research related to autologous and allogeneic tissue transplantation. His research covers ischemia-reperfusion injury of transplanted tissues, normal and pathological physiology of microcirculation, transplantation donor and recipient site biomechanics, allotransplantation animal models, immunoregulation, nerve recovery, transplant function and aesthetic optimization of grafts.

Professor Wei has achieved outstanding academic accomplishments owing to his pioneering, distinguishing and in-depth studies. He is highly acclaimed in the international surgical community, as was demonstrated in his selection as “one of the top 20 plastic surgery innovators in the 400-year history of plastic surgery” by the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS), which praised Professor Wei’s enduring contributions as “to be passed on from generation to generation”. In 2007, he was selected in Germany as one of the top 100 hand surgeons in history. In 2014, he was selected by the International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies (IFHNOS) as one of the hundred key promoters of head and neck cancer treatment advancement. In 2015, he was selected by American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons (ACAPS) and Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (SESPRS) as one of the top 10 most influential reconstructive surgeons. Since 2017, the Congress of World Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (WSRM) has established the Fu-Chan Wei Award, the only WSRM award named after a person. The award is presented every two years to honor individuals with major contributions in global reconstructive microsurgery development.

Professor Wei’s academic achievements are concretely evident in his publications, including nearly 500 papers published in international journals, 120 textbook chapters, nearly 15,000 article citations, and 18 textbooks. Among them, the first edition Flaps and Reconstructive surgery, published in 2009 and translated into four languages — English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Simplified Chinese — is currently the best-selling book in its field. The second edition, published in 2016, received the first prize of the British Medical Association’s Medical Book Award-Surgery Category in 2017. He has also served as the chief editor of International Microsurgery Journal (IMJ) and the international associate editor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Currently, he is on the editorial committee of more than ten journals.

Professor Wei’s outstanding academic contributions have made him the recipient of the highest awards and honors presented by relevant local and international associations. He has also delivered hundreds of invited lectures abroad and served as a visiting professor at more than 80 famous universities. In 2012, Professor Wei was elected as the first Academician in the field of surgery since the founding of the Academia Sinica in 1928.

Through research, Professor Wei has developed a series of toe-to-hand transplants utilized in reconstructing missing fingers; the vascularized fibula osteocutaneous flap for reconstructing limbs and facial defects; and various other flaps used to reconstruct defects all over the body. These results are widely applied clinically, substantially improving the resectability of head and neck cancer, breast cancer, sarcoma, and other tumors, as well as enhancing the reconstructability of missing limbs. Currently, these microsurgical tissue transplantations have become the mainstream of reconstructive surgery.

Professor Wei and his team, through the reconstructive surgical methods he developed, have saved over 30,000 patients. Similar surgeries performed by other surgeons in Taiwan who have received direct or indirect training from him are estimated to have served at least five times more patients, as well as countless other cases from countries around the world.

Because of Professor Wei’s passion for teaching, quality and quantity in publishing, and track record of active participation and appointment to important posts in related international associations and organizations, the hospital where he serves at is world-renowned and honorably recommended by the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (ASRM) as a training center and is considered a mustvisit "Mecca" for global specialists in the field. From the late 1980s to the end of 2018, a total of 2,228 specialists and scholars from 85 countries have made the pilgrimage to learn from with him. The majority of these microsurgical students are from the United States, the United Kingdom, Korea, Germany, Japan, and Thailand. Additionally, more than 100 physicians who received training from him are now professors, chiefs, or even authoritative scholars in their home countries or internationally. It is therefore not an overstatement to say he has students from all over the world.

Professor Wei has also set up the world’s only international microsurgery fellowship program that provides an International Master of Science in Reconstructive Microsurgery at Chang Gung University. Within three years, 18 foreign physicians have graduated. Because of Professor Wei’s zealous pursuit and relentless commitment to discovering new technology, his team members have completed the first four domestic cases of hand allotransplantation in Taiwan, while two of his American students have completed four cases of face allotransplantation at Johns Hopkins University, New York University, and the Mayo Clinic.

In view of the aforementioned academic excellence of Professor Wei, he is known as a world-leader in his field and is highly respected internationally. He is proficient at utilizing resources and applying them clinically, cumulating to new advances in cancer and trauma treatments. He fully embodies the spirit of translational research. His innovative academic theories and techniques are not only widely utilized in Taiwan but also around the world. His work has improved healthcare and saved countless patients, and by reconstructing their function and appearance, maintained the dignity of life, while also reducing the burden placed on family, society and country. He has trained countless local and international students and specialists and has made a profound and long-term impact on the surgical community. His overall performance is outstanding, encompassing all aspects of research, practical application, education, service and diplomacy.