Taipei Medical University alumni fight side by side against the COVID-19 pandemic

Source: Office of Global Engagement

Published on 2020-11-02

The COVID-19 outbreak has substantially changed everyone’s life.

While the fight is still ongoing, we would like to take a moment to pay tribute to TMU alumni who have played significant roles in leading Taiwan’s response to COVID-19.


Dr. Shih-Chung Chen (陳時中)

Title: Minister of Health and Welfare and the commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC)

Department: School of Dentistry

Year of Graduation: 1977

Much of the credit goes to the Central Epidemic Command Center led by Dr. Shih-Chung Chen (陳時中) for Taiwan successful attempt over the past few months. Coupled with the proactive prevention measure, an outstanding team of experts, transparent policy communications, and the cooperation of the people have kept Taiwan safe since the outbreak, allowing 23 million Taiwanese people to lead their daily life with considerably little disruption.

With strong solidarity, the Taiwanese society performed brilliantly in terms of the epidemic prevention, which made it one of the global role models. The Japanese media extolled Dr. Chen as “Iron Minister” for his tireless devotion amid the outbreak. However, to Dr. Chen, the success of the epidemic prevention should be attributed to the joint efforts of the whole nation. Dr. Chen believes in the collective efficacy derived from the combination of preemptive actions, expert advice, transparent policy, and strong cooperation of the entire population. None of which is dispensable.

Dr. Jui-Yuan Hsueh (薛瑞元)

Title: Vice Minister of Health and Welfare and Chief of the Healthcare Response Team of the CECC

Department: School of Medicine

Year of Graduation: 1980

Dr. Jui-Yuan Hsueh (薛瑞元) orchestrated Taiwan’s continuous logistical support, ranging from expanding the coronavirus testing capacity, reorganizing hospital isolation wards as well as the centralized quarantine stations to ensuring adequate medical and nursing staff, effectively preventing the epidemic from spreading.

Dr. Jih-Haw Chou (周志浩)

Title: Director General of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Centers for Disease Control and the Chief of the Epidemic Group of the CECC

Department: School of Dentistry

Year of Graduation: 1984

In the early morning of December 31, 2019, the moment learning from the internal channel that the way the COVID-19 spread might be similar to that SARS epidemic did, Dr. Jih-Haw Chou (周志浩) immediately notified the competent authority and activated the epidemic prevention mechanism to safeguard the country’s borders.

Dr. Victor Pi-Sheng Wang (王必勝)

Title: Chief Executive Director of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration and Deputy Chief of the Healthcare Response Team of the CECC

Department: School of Medicine

Year of Graduation: 1995

On March 10, 2020, Dr. Victor Pi-Sheng Wang (王必勝) led 4 physicians and 9 nurses to escort over 100 citizens safely back to Taiwan from China, splendidly completing the arduous mission under the nationwide attention.

Dr. Po-Chang Lee (李伯璋)

Title: Director General of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s National Health Insurance Administration

Department: School of Medicine

Year of Graduation: 1979

Shortly before the 2020 Chinese New Year while Dr. Po-Chang Lee (李伯璋) was on vacation abroad with his family, he received sudden instructions to launch the Health Insurance Travel History Cloud Inquiry System and the Mask Rationing Control System in the shortest possible time. He immediately organized his colleagues to start working on the projects and had the systems completed in less than two days, which not only prevented the public’s panic buying of masks, helped identify the high-risk population that required medical treatments in the early stages, but also ensured the safety of medical staff and communities.


Hundreds of thousands of TMU alumni have unwearyingly fought together in this unprecedented epidemic prevention battle. Regardless of where they are, these TMU alumni’s braveness, selflessness, and altruism makes every Taiwanese proud.