Dr. Sze Tsung-sing , The Man From WHO

Updated (partial) on January 1, 2013

Notable Doctors From the First 100 Years
A Biography of

Sze Tsung-sing 施正信
The Man From WHO

b. January 23, 1909 Shanghai; graduated from Medhurst College 麥倫書院, Shanghai (1924); enrolled in the Peking Union Medical College 協和醫學院 (1924) but did not attend college due to out break of civil war; admitted to HKU with two scholarships (1925) for a six year medical program; M.B., B.S. (1931), Hon. D.Soc.Sc. (1997), HKU; D.T.M.&H. (1936), D.P.H. (1937), University of London; Dr.P.H. (1938), Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health; Surgical Assistant (1931), Resident Internal Medicine (June to December, 1931), Hong Kong Government Civil Hospital; went to Shanghai to provide medical relief service (January to February, 1932); Assistant Resident Internal Medicine, Peking Union Hospital (1932-1933); Assistant in Medicine, HKU (1933-1935); while in London in 1936, went to Berlin and served as the ROC team physician at the Eleventh Olympic Games; general staff, HQ, Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps. (1938- August 1942); Professor and Chair of Department, Public Health, Guiyang Medical College (1944); Head of Medical and Health Agency, Guiyang (1944); Head of Health Department, Guizhou (1945); Head of National Health Agency (1946), based in Nanjing; Head of Healthcare Department under the National Health Ministry (1947); Professor, Social Medicine, HKU (1950-1952), the department was established in 1950 with Prof. Sze as its first professor, also Prof. Sze was the first HKU graduate to be offered a professorship; Medical Officer, Social and Occupational Health, World Health Organization (July 1952-1966), based in Geneva; resigned from WHO (1966) after being accused of being a threat to the national security of Switzerland and was named persona non grata by the Swiss Government; returned to China in 1966 and was caught up in the Cultural Revolution; Foreign Affairs Department, Ministry of Health (1972-1975); Executive Director (1975), Vice President (1980), China Medical Association; founded the China Medical Journal, China’s first technical journal in English; member, National Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1978-1987); married to Wang Chunjing 王春菁 (February 2, 1941); Photo caption: October 1953 photo of Professor and Mrs. Sze (second right) at a WHO reception.