A great pediatrician and scholar devoting his whole life to pediatric infectious and digestive diseases—In memoriam of Professor Yongsui Dong

Photograph of Professor Yongsui Dong Professor Yongsui Dong (April 1932–January 2023) was a chief physician and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Pediatrics, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and a pioneer, medical educator, and clinical scientist in the field of pediatric infectious and digestive diseases in China. Professor Dong graduated from the Medical College of Fudan University (formerly Shanghai First Medical College) with excellent grades in 1956. Then he worked at Zhongnan Tongji Medical College (now Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and its affiliated Wuhan Tongji Hospital. He soon became the backbone of the college and was responsible for establishing the Department of Pediatrics. With the aspiration of being “a good physician, a good teacher, and a good scholar”, Professor Dong strived to be progressive and comprehensive in clinical practice, teaching, and scientific research. He had devoted his whole life to safeguarding children's health, developing pediatrics, and cultivating excellent pediatricians in China. In the early summer of 1957, during the epidemic of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli enteritis, Professor Dong and his colleagues set up a research group. They proposed the principles of rehydration therapy for children with diarrhea, including the evidence-based (degree and type of dehydration) determination of the liquid (volume and tension), fast and then slow down the administration, and adjustment of the speed and fluid volume to the patient's condition. From the winter of 1958 to the winter of 1963, a large epidemic of adenovirus pneumonia occurred in children in China. Professor Dong analyzed 402 cases of childhood adenovirus pneumonia and found that the mortality rate of hospitalized children was as high as 25% (most under five years of age) and that the disease was severe and rapidly changing. He also found that, besides the lung, the heart and liver were often involved, so he recommended using digitoxin, which was contraindicated in adenovirus pneumonia at that time, to strengthen and protect the heart. The therapy was shown to improve prognosis and reduce mortality. In 1960, Professor Dong served as the deputy leader and worked in the rural areas along the Yangtze River in Hubei Province where schistosomiasis was severely endemic. In 1973, when an outbreak of Shigella flexneri enteritis occurred in Wuhan Tongji Hospital, Professor Dong was appointed the deputy director of the Department of Pediatrics and took full charge of the pediatric infectious disease ward, where all patients with enteritis were cured. From 1981 to 1983, Professor Dong served as the head and branch secretary of the Medea Medical Center in Algeria. As the Chinese director, Professor Dong was in charge of a 40-bed pediatric ward and also taught the medical students from Union des Comores. His work in Algeria was outstanding and highly praised by the local government and people. Professor Dong was forward-looking and devoted himself to the development of pediatrics. After becoming the director of the Pediatric Teaching and Research Department of Wuhan Tongji Hospital in 1985, he set the goal of building a multi-specialty advanced pediatric department. He advocated “three responsibilities” for pediatricians, that is, to the children of today, to the children in the future, and to the family and society. He emphasized that pediatricians must conduct a thorough physical examination of each patient. From 1986 to 1995, he served as the deputy director and director of the Department of Pediatrics of Tongji Medical University. Throughout this period, Professor Dong was committed to promoting the professional development of pediatrics and its sub-disciplines in a balanced way. Tongji hospital consequently held a leading position in several specialties in China, e.g. infectious, digestive, genetic, metabolic, endocrinal, renal, neonatal, and hematological diseases. In 1985, he founded the Pediatric Hepatology Laboratory of Tongji Hospital, which later became the Pediatric Clinical Virus Laboratory, and remains to be one of the few specialized laboratories in pediatrics in China. Given his outstanding contributions and achievements, Professor Dong won the special government allowance of the State Council in 1992 and the 3rd Chinese Pediatricians Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. Professor Dong enjoyed a considerable reputation in the field of pediatrics in China for his profound knowledge, superb medical skills, and rigorous scholarship. He was the first standing member of the Society of Pediatrics, Chinese Medical Association in Hubei Province, and served as its chairman from 1984 to 1995. He was also the head of the Subspecialty Group of Infectious and Digestive Diseases, Society of Pediatrics, Chinese Medical Association from 1993 to 2003. In 2003, he supported the establishment of the Subspecialty Groups of Infectious Diseases and the Digestive Diseases, Society of Pediatrics, Chinese Medical Association and successively served as the consultant and honorary consultant of the Subspecialty Group of Gastroenterology, Society of Pediatrics, Chinese Medical Association. He also established the National Pediatric Clinical Virology Cooperation Group in 2004, actively carried out clinical research and academic exchanges, and hosted six national symposiums. Professor Dong served as the deputy editor of the Chinese Journal of Practical Pediatrics and he was the editorial board member of several Chinese academic journals, including the Chinese Journal of Pediatrics, and so forth. Professor Dong had been committed to clinical and medical research, with great achievements in childhood viral, immunodeficiency, and liver and gastrointestinal diseases. He had published more than 200 academic papers and won a total of 12 scientific and technological awards. He was the first in China to carry out research on the transmission of hepatitis B (HBV) from mother to child in 1973 and to discover and report the occult HBV infection interfering with the HBV vaccine response, which was of great value in the HBV vaccine. In 1993, he first reported that in a large number of children from different backgrounds in China, the rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in children after a blood transfusion was as high as 39.7%. Later, he carried out a study in 147 paired mothers and children and found that mother-to-child transmission and blood-borne transmission was the main means of HCV infection in infants. He, therefore, campaigned for screening blood sources and eliminating the abuse of blood products, which provided a basis for the formulation of relevant national policies. In 1987, he received a $74 000 grant from the Thrasher Research Found for his project, epidemiological research on mother-to-child transmission of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in China. This was the first study to investigate the route, clinical manifestation, and prognosis of mother-to-child transmission of human CMV, as well as the clinical, pathological, and immune aspects of infant CMV hepatitis in China. Professor Dong successively presided over the development of the Diagnostic Criteria for Cytomegalovirus Infection in Children (Draft) (1995), the Diagnostic Protocol for Cytomegalovirus Infection (1999), and the Recommendations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cytomegalovirus Diseases in Children (2012), which significantly contributed to the standardization of the diagnosis and treatment of CMV infection and diseases in children. The dynamic duodenal drainage technique established under his guidance has played an important role in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of cholestatic liver disease in children and has become a key promotion project of the Ministry of Health of China. Professor Dong traveled abroad many times for academic exchanges. He was invited to visit Kanazawa Medical University in Japan twice in 1985 and 1990, respectively. In 1990, he went to Tokyo to participate in the annual meeting of the Japanese Pediatric Society and gave a presentation entitled “Child CMV infection in Wuhan, China.” In 1995, he attended the annual meeting of the Japanese Pediatric Society and presented a report entitled “HCV infection in different groups of children in Wuhan, China.” At the same time, he was invited by Kazuo Shiraki, the president of the Japanese Society of Pediatric Hepatology, to visit and exchange views at the affiliated hospital of Tottori University. At the 5th International CMV Conference held in Sweden in 1995, he gave an academic report entitled “A prospective study of liver impairment caused by CMV in infants.” Professor Dong loved medical education. He had edited many domestic textbooks and academic masterpieces such as Pediatric Infectious Diseases (2nd Edition), Pediatric Immunology, Pediatric Hepatobiliary Diseases, Zhu Futang Practical Pediatrics (7th Edition), and Pediatrics (3rd Edition). In 1991, he was awarded the Excellent Teacher Award of Universities by the Ministry of Health. He had supervised 25 postgraduate students who are now working in the United States, Canada, Europe, and various regions in China. He was awarded the Excellent Graduate Instructor Award and the Bole Award by Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Professor Dong was modest and tireless. He was a faithful practitioner of the Tongji Spirit of being serious and pragmatic, pioneering and innovative, dedicated to survival, and striving for perfection. He was a typical representative of the older generation of pediatricians in China and a model for future generations to follow. Professor Dong will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Dr. Xiaoping Luo and Feng Fang are the members of the Pediatric Investigation editorial board.

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