Herbal & Traditional Medicine

Biography

Biography: Tsai-Ju Chien

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine has a historical based-theory which has been adopted in oriental countries. It is gradually being noted by the western world for the limitation of reductionism of mainstream medicine and TCM is often seen as more accessible and acceptable. It is clear that the unifying systems theory of TCM could complement the western medicine; thus, TCM has raised the public's attention and more and more issues are worth discussion1,2. As precision medicine is so hot, some scholars now try bridge western medicine and TCM by precision medicine and there could be some concern and prospect towards this issue from different viewpoints. To sum up, personalized medicine has been stressed in recent years albeit it is an old lesson. Mapping the molecular pathway for each Chinese herb or finding biomarkers for targeted population or specific TCM syndrome help to fill the gap between TCM and mainstream medicine. By the way, only with these evidence-based study can we integrate the holism and reductionism. Actually, taking a purely holistic approach will result in some bias and criticism, especially when quality control of medicinal products and the reproducibility of results comes into question. On the other side; pure precision medicine approach cannot totally cover the essence of TCM; especially hard to explain the concept of excess and deficiency; Yin-Yang; TCM syndrome and multi-effect between mixing herbs. Consequently, a middle way might be considered in order to make the best of East and West and brings them together for the benefit of all.