Pioneer worked hard to gain public acceptance of IVF

"To practice surgical skills, we had to use the embryos of mice because we didn't have access to human ones," he said.

It was also very difficult to find suitable couples to conduct IVF procedures at the research stage in the beginning.

"Most infertile couples couldn't understand or accept the new technology. Even if the couple agreed, their family would probably refuse," he said.

Eventually, five couples participated in the first IVF experiment for Huang's team.

China has now the largest number of test tube babies in the world with up to 200,000 babies being born via IVF every year, according to Science and Technology Daily.

In the eyes of Huang's colleagues, he is a very strict person with a big heart.

"He has very high standards for every aspect of our work," said Chen Qiaoli, a doctor at the reproductive medicine institute.

"For instance, he will use a piece of white cloth to sweep through the furniture, equipment and floor of the lab to check the cleanliness after it has been cleaned."

Despite his busy work schedule, Huang uses social media to communicate with his patients in his spare time. He also proposed to set up a government fund to reduce the medical costs for servicemen and underprivileged patients.

The fund has so far helped reduce more than 800,000 yuan ($116,070) of expenses for patients, and Huang has provided treatment for more than 1,000 such patients.

In 2017, Huang became the first person in Chongqing to win the Bethune Award, the highest administrative award nationwide in healthcare jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the National Health Commission.

The award was named after Canadian physician Norman Bethune.

Bethune and his medical team came to China in 1938 to help the Chinese people fight the invading Japanese troops during World War II. Bethune died in China in 1939.