Tu Tsung-ming

Tu Tsung-ming (, Tō Sōmē), was the first Doctor of Medical Sciences (equivalent to Ph.D.) of Taiwan.

Early life and education
Tu Tsung-ming was born in Tamsui in 1893. He entered the Medical school under Government-General of Taiwan in 1909. Since his physical test score on the entrance exam did not meet the standard, he would not be able to enter this school. However, his test results were top, so the president of the school, Junzo Nagano(長野純蔵), decided entrance as a special case. He was always at the top of his class, and became healthy step by step through swimming, mountaineering and excises. The movement that requested to overthrow China's Qing dynasty was rising in 1910, and he joined the under society Tongmenghui with his friends. In 1914, he graduated the Medical school at the head of his year (13th).

After graduation, he entered Kyoto Imperial University under the support of Tugio Horiuchi (堀内次雄), the president of the Medical school in 1922. He majored internal medicine and pharmacology there. He became a member of Kuomintang in 1916.

Working in Taiwan as a doctor
In 1921, he came back to Taiwan and started working as a lecturer in the Medical school under Government-General of Taiwan. He submitted his doctoral dissertation to Kyoto Imperial University in 1922, and became a Doctor of Medical Sciences (equivalent to a Ph.D.). He was promoted to professor at the Medical school in the same year, and he was the first Taiwanese professor in Japan's pre-1945 imperial university system, at Taihoku Imperial University (now National Taiwan University). His pharmacology research lab was the cradle of medical research in Taiwan. The laboratory did pioneering research on methods to treat opium addiction, on the toxicology of snake venom, and on the pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine.

In addition to participating in pharmacological and toxicological research, Tu also contributed to medical education. After the World War II, he was the first dean of the National Taiwan University Medical College. In 1954, Tu founded Kaohsiung Medical College (now Kaohsiung Medical University) and became the first president of the College (1954–1966).

Relatives

 * Wife: Tu Lin Shuangsiu(杜林雙隨)
 * Third son: Anthony TU(杜祖健) is a chemist. He is a specialist of toxicology, biological agent and chemical weapon. When the Matsumoto sarin attack had occurred in 1994, he advised for resolution.