Jia-Si Huang: “A Surgeon and Something More”

In contrast to many industrialized countries, the growth of thoracic surgery in China was much more difficult over the first 5 decades under the ever-changing political and harsh socioeconomic conditions. As a matter of fact, the struggle to establish this specialty in a developing country with more than one fifth of the world population was certainly one of the most crucial challenges in the last century. The unique story of a pioneering Chinese thoracic surgeon—Dr Jia-Si Huang (1906–1984) was a glorious example of heroic leadership and self sacrifice. His fundamental role in developing cardiothoracic surgery in China was clearly reflected not only by some first-in-China operations he personally performed, but also by his continued contributions in educating younger generations of Chinese surgeons.