Ren Tao, an oncologist at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, is also a poet who transforms his clinical reflections into verse. His poems, brimming with warmth in doctor-patient interactions and the uplifting spirit of medical staff, resonate deeply.
Like attracts like. A community has gathered around Ren Tao, including Mei Chaorong from Tibet Chengdu Hospital (author of Sister Mei’s Night Notes), Li Chongguo, a radiation oncologist at 363 Hospital known for his crab sketches, and Liu Chaomin ("Dr. Cheng Cheng"), a prolific science communicator and his most prominent "fan" within the department. Together, they champion the humanistic ethos of Sichuan’s oncology community.
"Write a book," Ren Tao resolved. He proposed Narrative Medicine and Targeted Oncology—works for patients, crafted through storytelling. The first narrative recounts Cancer Pain and Me, a book by Dr. Weng Guang’an, a colorectal cancer patient, which guided Ren into oncology. "Doctors get cancer too; they also feel powerless. What goes through their minds?"
The second story is Professor Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture. The American academic, facing terminal pancreatic cancer, bypassed his field to share life lessons, pointing to his CT scans while discussing dreams and hobbies. The video went viral, viewed 20 million times globally. For targeted therapy, Ren drew from The Magic Cancer Bullet (on Gleevec’s development), intertwining it with filmmaker Ning Hao’s work and his own GCP application. After meticulous study, he submitted a critique to reviewers. "How could a Phase II trial patient rejoin Phase III for the same drug?" Experts clarified: post-"washout," metabolized drugs permit re-enrollment to verify efficacy. Ren now recommends this text to all new GCP applicants. His writing? Always stories that captivate.
Professor Sun Yu of West China Hospital included Ren’s original Anti-Vomiting Clapping Song in a chemotherapy chapter: "Clap one, clap one, cisplatin’s vomit’s number one..." The catchy rhyme educates, though its tenth line—"Clap ten, clap ten, thalidomide brings peace again"—holds dual meaning: literal (relief from nausea) and clinical (thalidomide, a guideline-recommended, cost-effective antiemetic with a five-day regimen).
The honorary editor of Symbiosis: Living with Cancer is Professor Hou Mei, whom Ren deeply respects. "Medicine is the body; humanism, the soul," she asserts. In the foreword, she quotes her mentor, Professor Deng Chang’an: "To be a clinician is to approach the bedside—to listen, understand needs and hopes, and tailor care. Only then can you excel." Hou Mei, mentored by Deng, now mentors Sichuan’s medical writers, perpetuating this ethos in practice and pedagogy.
Cancer stems from our own mutated cells. Symbiosis isn’t surrender, but coexistence. The book’s mission: to guide patients and families toward acceptance, dialogue, and personalized care—achieving outcomes that satisfy all, reintegrating lives into home and society.
