Dr. S. P. Chen was a Chinese medical specialist at the beginning of the 20th century who used to work as Senior Resident Surgeon at the Western General Dispensary in London. He was Principal Medical Expert of the Ministry of the interior in 1919.
Education
Dr. S. P. Chen obtained his professional education commenced at Caius College, Cambridge where he also distinguished himself by being appointed one of the assistant demonstrators in anatomy in the University Laboratory early in his third year. There he passed his natural science tripos with honors. He underwent his hospital training at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London and on completion he took the medical and surgical degrees of his old University.
Career
Dr. Chen served a year as Senior Resident Surgeon at the Western General Dispensary in London, thus acquiring a considerable amount of practical experience. While acting as Chief Medical Officer in Harbin, Dr. Chen received an invitation from the Ministry of the Interior to the Government Isolation Hospital, the first of its kind in the country. A large number of infectious cases were cared for since its organization which would have otherwise been at large and been the means of spreading infection, perhaps with fatal results, to many more.
During the floods in the autumn of 1917 and when the danger of epidemic outbreaks was threatening on account of the presence of large numbers of refugees in Tianjin, H. E. Hsiung Hsi-ling, Director-General of Flood Relief, appointed Dr. Chen to be his Chief Medical Officer of Health. As a result of Dr. Chen’s preventive measures no outbreak of epidemic disease occurred. In the outbreak of pneumonic plague in Shanxi in 1918, Dr. Chen was one of the three commissioners appointed by the government to cope with the situation.
In June 1919 Dr. Chen was appointed Principal Medical Expert of the Ministry of the interior still holding the position of director of the Peking Government Isolation Hospital.
In October 1921, Dr. Chen was conferred the Second Order of Chiaho, in December 1921, the Second Order of Tacho Chiaho and in June 1922, the 4th Order of Wenfu.