Doctor's genetic tweaks offer a new lease on life

Huang says while the aim of her profession has always been to master medical skills and help patients, the decades of her medical career have shown her how the care and empathy that doctors provide also play an important role in consoling patients-and that a combination of the two can often provide the best results.

"For a doctor, staying abreast of the latest developments in medicine can be a real challenge, but I have learned over the years that technical proficiency is not enough, as you have to offer ethical and economical solutions to each of your patients to achieve an overall balance. This should be the pinnacle that every doctor should aim to reach professionally," she says.

She recalls a case last year. A woman from Southwest China, who had a 4-year-old child suffering from an immunodeficiency disease, sought Huang's help to attempt to have a second child using the third-generation test-tube method so that the stem cells from the umbilical cord blood of the new baby could be used to save the older child.

Unfortunately, none of the eight embryos had human leukocyte antigens that match the boy's type, and the mother chose to leave without an embryo-and giving up the chance of having a healthy second child.

"I looked at her when she left and I realized that there are always thorny issues and unknowns in medicine. As a doctor, I hope that every embryo is healthy and finds a successful match, but medicine is an imperfect science and sometimes it takes a bit of luck," says Huang.

"I was very heavy-hearted that day. I was not at fault technically but I actually felt worse about the situation than the mother did. I sat down and tried to write something about the way I felt about it from my own perspective, but I found it hard. For years, I'd only ever written medical records or research papers, never anything personal," she adds.