Wei Fu-chan () is a Taiwanese surgeon. Wei was born in

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

and earned a degree in medicine at

Kaohsiung Medical College 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, C ...

. He received training in plastic surgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, led by superintendent , who suggested that Wei "go abroad to bring home something new." Subsequently, Wei pursued medical fellowships at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in Canada and the Christine M. Kleinert Institute for Hand and Micro Surgery at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

in the United States. Upon completing his surgical training in 1983, Wei returned to Taiwan, and began his own microsurgery training program at Chang Gung in 1984. Four years later, Wei helped establish the Microsurgical Intensive Care Unit at Chang Gung. In 1994, Wei took charge of Chang Gung's Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Following the addition of other surgeons, Wei turned from trauma surgery to head and neck reconstruction. In 2013, Wei operated on a woman from Hong Kong injured in the

Manila hostage crisis The Manila hostage crisis, officially known as the Rizal Park hostage-taking incident, took place when a disgruntled former Philippine National Police officer named Rolando Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus in Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines, on A ...

of 2010. Prior to Wei's treatment, the woman had gone through 32 surgeries. Wei's team worked without fully detailed medical records, and the surgery itself took more than ten hours. The

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

filmed the operation, and aired footage as a portion of a three-part documentary series titled '' Taiwan Revealed'', which was scheduled to premiere on 5 June 2014 in Taiwan, before being aired in 35 other regions across Asia during June and July 2014. The first viewing was held at the

Taipei Guest House The Taipei Guest House () is the historical building located at 1 Ketagalan Boulevard, Bo'ai Special Zone, Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is owned by the Government of the Republic of China and used as a state guest house for receivi ...

on 3 June 2014. Wei has taught at China Medical University and

Taipei Medical University Taipei Medical University (TMU; ) in Taiwan is located in Taipei's Xinyi District. Founded as Taipei Medical College in 1960, it was renamed as Taipei Medical University in 2000. TMU has expanded into a world class university with ten colleges, ...

. After a stint as vice superintendent of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei, he was promoted to director, and served as dean of the Chang Gung Medical College between 2003 and 2011. On 5 July 2012, Wei became the first surgeon elected to

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

membership. In 2018, Wei received one of three individual Global Healthcare Awards from the Taiwan Global Healthcare Association. In 2019, Wei, Yuan-Pern Lee, and

Yuan-Tsong Chen Yuan-Tsong Chen (YT Chen; ) is a Taiwanese physician scientist, notable for his work on human genetic disorders. He is the director emeritus (2001–2010) and distinguished research fellow (2001–present) of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, ...

were awarded Taiwan's .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Fu-chan 1940s births Living people Taiwanese plastic surgeons 20th-century surgeons 21st-century surgeons Taiwanese expatriates in Canada Taiwanese expatriates in the United States Kaohsiung Medical University alumni Scientists from Tainan Taiwanese university and college faculty deans Academic staff of Taipei Medical University Members of Academia Sinica