Tu Youyou

My choice of learning pharmacy was driven by my interests, curiosity, and a desire to seek new medicines for patients.

new choice learning curiosity

When you are entrusted with an assignment, you do your best.

do-your-best your best you

It is my dream that Chinese medicine will help us conquer life-threatening diseases worldwide and that people across the globe will enjoy its benefits for health promotion.

conquer enjoy health people

I was born on December 30, 1930 in Ningbo, a city on the east coast of China with a rich culture and over seven thousand years of history. Although it was a tumultuous age in China when I was a child, I was lucky enough to have completed a good education from primary to middle school.

good age education history

From our research experience in discovering artemisinin, we learned the strengths of both Chinese and Western medicine. There is great potential for future advances if these strengths can be fully integrated.

great future experience research

After graduation from high school, I attended the university entrance examination, and fortunately, I was accepted by the Department of Pharmacy and became a student at the Medical School of Peking University.

medical high-school graduation school

Every scientist dreams of doing something that can help the world.

help doing dreams world

Malaria has long been a devastating and life-threatening global epidemic disease in human history.

human disease long history

I do not want fame.

want fame

Malaria was one of the epidemic diseases with the most comprehensive records in traditional Chinese medical literature.

diseases malaria medical literature

No doubt, clinical practice in alleviating malaria symptoms utilizing Qinghao - inherited from traditional Chinese medical literature - provided some useful information leading to the discovery of artemisinin.

medical information practice doubt

Artemisinin... is a true gift from old Chinese medicine. But this is not the only instance in which the wisdom of Chinese medicine has borne fruit.

gift fruit medicine wisdom

The discovery of artemisinin was an example of successful collective efforts.

efforts example successful discovery

My father worked in a bank while my mother looked after my four brothers and me, the only girl in our family.

me family mother father

Chinese awards are always given to teams, but foreign awards are different.

always awards given different

I saw a lot of children who were in the latest stages of malaria. Those kids died very quickly.

those very who children

I didn't get round to having children until I was 35, and then I wasn't around very much.

round get having-children children

Project 523 was both a good and a bad thing. They held so many meetings, and there were so many competing centres, it was a real mess. Nearly every province had their own research centre, and they all asked me to share my research, which I did. But that's no way to do science. They wasted a lot of money and a lot of time.

good me time science