About Academician Wang Zhenyi
Academician Wang Zhenyi (王振义) is Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Academician of both the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and one of the most celebrated and consequential figures in the history of modern oncology. Based at Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Academician Wang is the originator of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) differentiation therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) — a discovery made in the 1980s that transformed APL from one of the most rapidly fatal leukemias, with a mortality rate approaching 100% within weeks of diagnosis, into one of the most curable cancers in all of medicine, with long-term cure rates exceeding 90% when treated with ATRA combined with arsenic trioxide (ATO). This achievement is universally recognized as one of the most important advances in oncology of the 20th century and has directly saved hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.
The story of ATRA and APL is one of the most remarkable in the history of medicine. In the early 1980s, APL was a uniformly fatal diagnosis. Patients died within days to weeks of diagnosis from catastrophic bleeding caused by the leukemia's characteristic coagulopathy, and conventional chemotherapy, while sometimes achieving temporary remission, was associated with high treatment mortality and near-universal relapse. Academician Wang's insight — that APL cells, unlike other leukemia subtypes, might be induced to differentiate into normal mature blood cells rather than simply killed — led him to test ATRA in APL patients at a time when differentiation therapy was a theoretical concept rather than a clinical reality. The results were transformative: ATRA induced complete remission in APL patients who had failed all other treatments, without the life-threatening toxicity of conventional chemotherapy. This discovery, subsequently combined with arsenic trioxide by his colleagues Chen Zhu and Chen Saijuan at Ruijin Hospital, produced a chemotherapy-free oral regimen that cures more than 90% of APL patients — a result unmatched by any other leukemia treatment.
Academician Wang's contributions to medicine extend beyond APL. He has made foundational contributions to the understanding of hematopoiesis, the biology of leukemic stem cells, and the mechanisms of differentiation and apoptosis in cancer cells. His career spanning more than six decades at Ruijin Hospital has shaped the development of Chinese hematology as a discipline and inspired generations of hematologists and cancer biologists worldwide. While Academician Wang has largely transitioned from active clinical practice given his advanced age, his legacy is embodied in the world-class hematology program at Ruijin Hospital, and consultations arranged through CMCS connect international patients with the program he built and the colleagues and successors he trained.
Hospital Affiliation: Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Ruijin Hospital (瑞金医院), affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, is one of Shanghai's most prestigious and historically significant academic medical centers and a global leader in hematology. The Department of Hematology at Ruijin Hospital is internationally renowned as the birthplace of ATRA and ATO differentiation therapy for APL — a discovery that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives globally. The department manages a high volume of complex hematological malignancy cases annually and operates an active bone marrow transplantation program, a CAR-T cell therapy program, and one of China's most active hematology clinical trials programs.
The department's research infrastructure includes a state-of-the-art molecular diagnostics laboratory, a hematopoietic stem cell biology research program, and an active translational research pipeline connecting laboratory discoveries to clinical trials. The department maintains research collaborations with hematology centers at Harvard, MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and leading European institutions, and is consistently ranked as one of the top hematology programs in Asia and among the most influential in the world.
The APL Legacy: What It Means for International Patients
- Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) — Ruijin Hospital is the global home of APL treatment. The ATRA plus ATO protocol developed here achieves complete remission in more than 95% of newly diagnosed APL patients and long-term cure in more than 90%. For international patients diagnosed with APL — particularly high-risk APL, relapsed APL, or APL occurring in unusual clinical contexts — Ruijin Hospital's unmatched experience with this disease, accumulated over four decades and thousands of patients, represents the gold standard of care
- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) — molecular subtyping and risk stratification; targeted therapy with FLT3 inhibitors, IDH inhibitors, and venetoclax combinations; intensive chemotherapy; allogeneic stem cell transplantation; access to investigational agents through clinical trials
- Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) — diagnosis and risk stratification; hypomethylating agent therapy; venetoclax combinations; allogeneic stem cell transplantation for high-risk MDS
- Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) — TKI therapy selection and optimization; molecular monitoring and treatment-free remission strategies; management of TKI resistance
- Lymphoma and myeloma — access to Ruijin Hospital's lymphoma and myeloma specialists; CAR-T cell therapy; bispecific antibody therapy; novel immunotherapy combinations
- Differentiation therapy and targeted oncology — the principles of differentiation therapy pioneered by Academician Wang at Ruijin Hospital continue to inspire novel therapeutic strategies for AML and other cancers; patients with refractory hematological malignancies may benefit from access to investigational differentiation and targeted therapy protocols through Ruijin Hospital's clinical trials program
- Expert second opinion — review of bone marrow biopsy, cytogenetics, molecular profiling, and treatment records for patients with APL, AML, MDS, or other hematological malignancies; written English-language second opinion reports available through CMCS
Academic Legacy & Global Recognition
Academician Wang Zhenyi's scientific legacy is among the most celebrated in the history of Chinese medicine and global oncology. He has authored and co-authored hundreds of peer-reviewed publications in Chinese and international journals, including landmark contributions to Blood, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Lancet, and Chinese Medical Journal. His discovery of ATRA therapy for APL has been cited thousands of times and is recognized in every major hematology and oncology textbook worldwide as a paradigm-shifting advance in cancer treatment.
Academician Wang has received virtually every major honor in Chinese and international medicine, including the Highest Science and Technology Award of China — the nation's most prestigious scientific prize — the Kettering Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the Hamdan Award for Medical Sciences, and honorary doctorates from multiple international universities. He is a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences, and has been recognized by the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the European Hematology Association (EHA), and the International Society of Hematology (ISH) for his lifetime contributions to hematology.
Academician Wang's election to both the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences — an honor held by only a handful of individuals in China — reflects the extraordinary breadth and depth of his contributions to both the scientific understanding of cancer biology and the practical application of that understanding to save human lives. His legacy at Ruijin Hospital is embodied in the world-class hematology program he built, the colleagues and successors he trained — including Academicians Chen Zhu and Chen Saijuan — and the hundreds of thousands of APL patients worldwide who are alive today because of his discovery.
Why International Patients Come to Ruijin Hospital
For international patients with APL — the disease that Academician Wang's discovery transformed from a death sentence into a curable condition — Ruijin Hospital is the most experienced and historically significant institution in the world for this disease. No other center has treated more APL patients, accumulated more clinical experience with ATRA and ATO therapy, or contributed more to the global understanding of APL biology and treatment. For patients with high-risk APL, relapsed APL, APL with unusual molecular features, or APL occurring in challenging clinical contexts such as pregnancy, extreme old age, or significant organ dysfunction, Ruijin Hospital's depth of experience is unmatched.
For patients with other hematological malignancies — AML, MDS, CML, lymphoma, or myeloma — Ruijin Hospital's hematology program offers a combination of clinical expertise, molecular diagnostic capability, access to novel therapies through clinical trials, and translational research integration that places it among the top hematology programs in Asia. The program's active CAR-T cell therapy and bispecific antibody programs provide access to cutting-edge immunotherapy for patients with relapsed or refractory disease who have exhausted standard treatment options.
Treatment costs at Ruijin Hospital are substantially lower than equivalent care in Western healthcare systems, and the speed of access to specialist consultation, molecular diagnostic workup, and treatment initiation is typically far faster than in public healthcare systems abroad. CMCS has coordinated hematology consultations and treatment programs for patients from North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East through Ruijin Hospital's hematology program.
What to Expect at Your Consultation
Consultations arranged through CMCS at Ruijin Hospital's hematology program begin with a comprehensive review of all prior diagnostic results — including bone marrow biopsy and aspirate reports, cytogenetics, molecular profiling (NGS panel, RT-PCR for PML-RARα and other fusion genes), flow cytometry immunophenotyping, complete blood count trends, coagulation studies, and all prior treatment records. CMCS will arrange certified translation of all medical records, laboratory reports, and pathology results in advance of the consultation.
The consulting hematologist will assess the diagnosis and molecular subtype, evaluate prior treatment and response, outline the recommended treatment strategy with detailed rationale, and provide a realistic assessment of expected outcomes. For APL patients, the consultation will specifically address the role of ATRA and ATO, MRD monitoring strategy, and the management of any treatment-related complications. A written English-language consultation summary is provided after every appointment, and CMCS will facilitate direct communication between Ruijin Hospital's hematology team and the patient's home hematologist for continuity of care planning.
Book a Consultation Through CMCS
China Medical Concierge Shanghai (CMCS) provides comprehensive end-to-end support for international patients seeking hematology consultation at Ruijin Hospital — the institution where Academician Wang Zhenyi's discovery of ATRA therapy changed the history of cancer treatment. Our services include priority consultation scheduling with Ruijin Hospital's hematology team, certified medical record and laboratory report translation, pre-consultation molecular and pathology review by our clinical coordinators, hospital logistics and admission coordination, visa and travel support, accommodation recommendations near Ruijin Hospital, on-site interpretation throughout the consultation and treatment process, pharmacy and chemotherapy coordination, and ongoing follow-up coordination between Ruijin Hospital's hematology team and the patient's home hematologist after return.
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