In order to further foster a good academic atmosphere and promote the spirit of scientists, Zhang Yingze, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and Dean of the School of Medicine, NKU, gave a lecture to 100 undergraduate students at the Siyuan Hall on March 18. He discussed the relationships involved in medical innovation on the following three topics: “innovation and imitation”, “innovation and integrity”, and “innovation and reverse thinking”.

Zhang Yingze mentioned that drawing on existing experiences plays an important role in medical innovation. His research team has invented and produced a “robotic eye” based on the projection phenomenon of projection lamps, which reflects internal organs to the surface of the body, making it convenient for clinical beginners to perform surgery. The team has also coined the term “secondary injury” by extending the geographical concept of “secondary disaster” to the medical field with supporting clinical cases, which reflects the medical conception innovation by imitation.

In terms of the relationship between “innovation” and “integrity”, Zhang Yingze believes that “there is no best, only better”. Even if the existing solution can already solve some problems, we shall continue to innovate and find better ways. Taking Tu Youyou, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, as an example, she searched through traditional Chinese medicine books for prescriptions and improved the method of artemisinin purification, confirming the importance of further innovation on the basis of previous discoveries.

In terms of the relationship between “innovation” and “reverse thinking”, Zhang Yingze started with the story of how the Allied Forces solved the problem of warplane wear and tear during World War II, reminding students not to be misled by superficial phenomena; otherwise, it would be difficult to innovate. Zhang Yingze used fracture reduction as a medical example to explain how to reverse the thinking from “distal to proximal” (i.e. driving the distal end of the fracture to the proximal end of the fracture) to “proximal to distal” in the revolutionary innovation of the femoral head and shaft three-dimensional interactive reduction technology, which solved some problems in the reduction of irreducible femoral fractures.

Zhang Yingze encouraged the students to actively develop their innovation ability, dare to ask questions and think more, and “enhance scientific research and innovation ability to take on China’s own innovation path!”

The School of Medicine takes the initiative to explore and integrate various resources, persistently fosters a good academic atmosphere, and actively promotes the construction of a good academic atmosphere through institutional construction, collaborative research between teachers and students, and scientific research competitions, so as to promote the personal growth of students and the high-quality development of the medical discipline.