An Interview with Professor Shen Pi’an

In early October 2013 the UK was fortunate to receive a visit from Professor Shen Pi’an, who was in London to teach on the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with Chinese medicine. I took the opportunity to interview him on behalf of The Journal of Chinese Medicine, so on a brisk autumnal morning we met at his hotel in Hampstead. A sprightly man in his late 70s and immaculately attired, Professor Shen still works four sessions a week at his hospital, seeing 60 patients a day. When asked to expound on matters relating to medicine, his authority, force and passion were obvious. Professor Shen originally graduated in 1962 from the Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and since then has worked as a doctor in the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital [where he has been Professor and Director of the Rheumatology and Immunology Department since the early 1980s]. A prolific author, Professor Shen has written more than 10 books related to immunology, rheumatology and materia medica pharmacology. He recently published his first English-language text, Shen’s Textbook on the Management of Autoimmune Diseases with Chinese Medicine
(Donica, 2012).