An In-House Academic Talk: Exploring Traditional Chinese Medicine and Asthma Research

In November 2022, I participated in a small in-house research sharing session at our hospital. I presented an extension of a school-based project focused on asthma. The research explored this topic from the perspective ofpurified compounds derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herbs.The project aimed to explore new herbal solutions from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that might address key pathological processes in asthma. It also discussed the potential complementary roles of TCM and modern medicine in clinical practice.

Although the event was small in scale—an internal academic presentation among colleagues—it gave me a valuable opportunity to organize and reflect on my research, and to receive feedback and questions from fellow faculty members.

What made the day especially memorable was the chance to meet a visiting guestAcademician Jean‑Marc Egly of the French Academy of Sciences, who was visiting at the time.Professor Egly is a member of the French National Academy of Sciences and has long been engaged in research on transcription mechanisms and molecular biology. Although he is not directly involved in Traditional Chinese Medicine or clinical practice, he expressed appreciation during a brief post-session exchange for the approach of understanding modern diseases through the lens of traditional medicine. He also encouraged us to continue exploring research from diverse perspectives.

Overall, this sharing session felt like a simple moment in an ordinary workday. It wasn’t a formal presentation, nor was it open to the public—but it’s precisely these everyday moments that make up the rhythm of research life.

In that quiet departmental presentation, I took the chance to organize my current research and unexpectedly crossed paths with a senior scholar from a different field of study. Though the encounter was brief and simple, it left a lasting impression on me.