On April 28, Prof. Hongxia Wang, the Chief of the Department of Oncology of Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, was awarded the 19th “China Young Female Scientists Award”, which was established in 2004 and has become an important award for women scientists and connects international recognition platforms.

Hongxia Wang, a clinician, shines the unique light as a female scientist in the field of science.

Knocking the door to medicine

“I studied medicine by great chance.” According to the vague impression of the doctor as a career, when filing the intention for university, Hongxia Wang felt that her family was “short of a doctor”, so she filled in the medical school on the first choice and was successfully admitted.

After graduation, she shifted to the oncology department during normalized training, and was attracted by this department that is full of unknown challenges. “The oncology department is like uncultivated land, where a lot of works can be performed.”

After three years of normalized training, she attended postgraduate qualifying examination and chose oncology, and ultimately selected breast cancer as research subject.

Overcoming the difficulty in scientific research

In the master’s and doctoral stages, Hongxia Wang faced with the dilemma of inability in doing scientific research, and thus began to teach herself the basic theories and techniques of biology. During the academic visit in America, she understood many experimental methods that broadened her horizon, and found that scientific research is clinically required to tackle problems.

The heterogeneity of cancer cells has always been a vital topic in breast cancer research. Hongxia Wang wanted to know what factors cause different cancer recurrence and metastasis in different individuals.

Then, she changed the mindset from a clinician to a scientific researcher, and built her research team. When facing problems, she learnt independently, deeply probed into the problem, and brought the detail analysis results to the team.

In 2018, their co-achievements were successfully published in Nature Communication, revealing the mechanism of TSPAN8p rotein promoting tumor recurrence and metastasis and drug resistance. Leading the team also help Hongxia Wang change from grueling scientific research to interested scientific research.

She was not bound by rules, and dared to propose “strange” questions and conduct verifications. “We should learn to change clinical problems into scientific problems, so that clinical treatment can continuously advance”, which is the unique advantages of Hongxia Wang in doing research.

She thinks that scientific research and clinical practice complement each other, and the results of scientific research should be applied to clinical practice to solve practical problems.

Holding a tenacious heart

Oncology is a rapidly developing field with many subdisciplines. Among them, breast cancer, as the forefront of cancer research, is a “research hotspot” with fierce competition, resulting in huge research pressure.

Many people once advised Hongxia Wang to change the track, but she still chose to keep going and was unwilling to compromise.

She said, “Young generation always changes direction and considers to find the most beneficial and quickest way. But I think there is no shortcut and unless what you choose contradicts the trajectory of historical development, you persist in doing it and will obtain the results one day.”

Compared to cleverness and high IQ, she underscored persistence and tenacity.

Over the past 20 years, Hongxia Wang always adheres to the forefront of scientific research and clinical practice, deeply explores in the field of breast cancer and tumor recurrence and metastasis. She displays her passion and persistence in medicine with firm efforts.