My Story and My Vision of China：Interview with Director of NICM at the University of Western Sydney, Professor Alan Bensoussan

China is the only nation in the world to have systematically and conscientiously protected and invested in its traditional medicine. Professor Alan Bensoussan, who has been researching Chinese medicine for more than 30 years, is the only foreigner in 2013 who had received the prestigious International Award for Contribution to Chinese Medicine.

Professor Bensoussan is the Director of the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) at the University of Western Sydney, the largest institute in Australia that does research in traditional Chinese medicine. The institute focuses on four areas; neuro cognitional dementia and mental health in general, cancer, womens’ health and cardiovascular and metabolic disease.

“We have regulated the practice so that practitioners are recognised now so I think China continuing this interaction, engagement with the West, will only lead to greater improvements in the science of Chinese medicine,” Professor Bensoussan said.

Professor Bensoussan emphasised the importance of conducting clinical trials on Western patients in order to find ways to approve traditional medicine in Western countries.

“What we have to do is translate those medicines, develop the science, translate them for the use in the West,” he said.

“So the opportunities, you’ve got a field of medicine that is being used that has been the main form of medicine for all over the world for centuries. There are going to be endless opportunities.”

Professor Bensoussan believes that the advantage of Chinese medicine is that it provides a number of compounds in a mixture and lower dosage levels that will gradually readjust the body’s physiology.

“I think for me personally, the magic doesn’t lie in the purification of the medicine to identify a single compound … but the magic in Chinese medicine for me is actually the interface between foods and purified drugs,” Professor Bensoussan said.

It was learning about the science of acupuncture back in the 70s that triggered his curiosity to delve deeper.

“Chinese medicine offered a different perspective of the patients’ health, a different perspective of their health and illness because the theory is different. It offers different ways of viewing how symptoms and signs are connected and so this was interesting.”

His best experience regarding Chinese medicine was in 1984 and 1985 when he studied at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine. Since then, Professor Bensoussan has been back 30 to 40 times for various research collaborations and different study periods.

Professor Bensoussan has high expectations for the future of traditional Chinese medicine such as treating chronic diseases in the West.

“It [Chinese medicine] was the system of healthcare in China for a quarter of the world for centuries so the field is very fertile, very rich with opportunities … We have the infrastructure, we have the resources, we have the enthusiasm, we need the partnerships with China to accelerate this.” Professor Bensoussan is also fundraising for NICM to further support their research.

Professor Bensoussan has been the Chair of the Advisory Committee for Complementary Medicines of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration from 2011 to 2014 and has also served frequently as a consultant in traditional medicine to the World Health Organisation.

He has also published over 160 scientific papers and two books, including a review of acupuncture research in 1990 and a government report on the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in Australia in 1996. (People’s Daily Online/ Tingting Yan)