Wu Lien-teh

Dr. Wu Lien-teh (伍连德, Wu Liande, Gnoh Lean Tuck, 1879-21 January 1960) was a Malayan-born Chinese and graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In autumn of 1910, Dr. Wu Lien-teh investigated a large pneumonic plague epidemic on the spot in North-East China and chaired the International Plague Conference in Mukden (Shenyang) in April 1911. Dr Wu later became the first president of the China Medical Association (1916-1920) and directed the National Quarantine Service (1931-1937).

During World War II, he moved back to his hometown in Penang and worked as a General Practitioner till 1947 and he became active in Ipoh .

Dr. Wu Lien-teh is regarded as the first person to modernize China's medical services and medical education. His name is remembered in a street in Penang Jalan Wu Lean Teh.

References

* Wu Lien-Teh, 1959. Plague Fighter: The Autobiography of a Modern Chinese Physician. Cambridge.
* Yang, S. 1988. Dr Wu Lien-teh and the national maritime quarantine service of China in 1930s. Zhonghua Yi Shi Za Zhi 18:29-32.
* Wu Yu-Lin. 1995. Memories of Dr Wu Lien-Teh: Plague Fighter. World Scientific Pub Co Inc.
* Flohr, Carsten. 1996. The plague fighter: Wu Lien-teh and the beginning of the Chinese public health system. Annals of Science 53:361-80
* Gamsa, Mark. 2006. The Epidemic of Pneumonic Plague in Manchuria 1910–1911. Past & Present 190:147-183
* Penang Free School archive [http://pfs.tmspublisher.com/article.cfm?id=106]