Wu Mengchao 

Wu Mengchao, founder of hepatobiliary surgery in China and former vice president of Shanghai-based Second Military Medical University, passed away at the age of 99 in Shanghai on May 22. 

In 1991, Wu was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he became the first physician to receive the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, China's highest academic accolade, for raising the success rate of hepatic surgery for liver cancer patients in China from 16 percent to over 98 percent. Wu completed over 16,000 surgical operations throughout his 75-year-long career.

As the first Chinese doctor to establish a theoretical basis for liver surgery, he was responsible for more than 30 major medical achievements through independent innovation.