Tu Tsung-ming (, ja, Tō Sōmē), was the first Doctor of Medical Sciences (equivalent to Ph.D.) of Taiwan. He was born in Tamsui in 1893, trained as a physician at Taiwan Governor's Medical School, and received his doctorate degree from Kyoto Imperial University (now

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...

) in 1922. He became the first Taiwanese professor in Japan's pre-1945 imperial university system, at Taihoku Imperial University (now

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

). His pharmacology research lab was the cradle of medical research in Taiwan. The laboratory did pioneering research on methods to treat opium addiction, on the toxicology of snake venom, and on the pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine. In addition to participating in

pharmacological Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

and

toxicological Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expos ...

research, Tu also contributed to

medical education Medical education is education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship (medical), internship) and additional training thereafter (e.g., Re ...

. After the World War II, he was the first dean of National Taiwan University Medical College. In 1954, Tu founded Kaohsiung Medical College (now

Kaohsiung Medical University The Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU; ) is a private medical school located in Sanmin District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. History The university was originally established as Kaohsiung Medical College in 1954 by the former mayor of Kaohsiung City, ...

) and became the first president of the College (1954–1966).

External links

Dr. Chong-Ming Du 杜聰明博士Dr. Tsungmng Tu Foundation 杜聰明博士獎學基金會
1893 births 1986 deaths Hokkien scientists Hokkien people Scientists from New Taipei Presidents of National Taiwan University Academic staff of Kaohsiung Medical University Kyoto University alumni Taiwanese toxicologists Taiwanese pharmacologists Academic staff of the National Taiwan University Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent {{Taiwan-scientist-stub