Are all the outstanding talents in the world suffering from mild mental retardation?

From Mentally Retarded Girls to Female Scientists —— Interview with Dr. Chen Zhaofei

Dr Chen Zhaofei plays Chen Zhaofei in the laboratory.

On August 27th, at the grand press conference of China Disabled Art held in the Great Hall of the People, the reporter was lucky enough to meet Dr. Chen Zhaofei who had made a special trip back to China. As one of the top ten outstanding young people in the United States, a pioneer in nutritional immunology and a famous American scientist, she has a graceful demeanor and a modest and elegant voice on the podium. In her speech, she mentioned that when she was a child, she had a history of studying in a special education school as a mentally retarded student, which surprised the reporters at the scene.

On the morning of August 28th, at the residence of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Oriental Plaza where Dr. Chen stayed, the reporter was fortunate enough to listen to her detailed answers to readers' concerns, such as her fate with China Disabled Art Troupe and how to embark on the road of science.

From mentally retarded girls to female scientists

"10 years old, I entered a special education school as a mentally retarded student." Chen Zhaofei told us that she was 10 years old. At that time, she had just come to America with her parents, and she didn't even understand ABC, let alone speak English. In order to cope with the entrance, my sister taught her an English sentence "I am ten years old". The day before. Said if the teacher asked her, "How old are you?" -How old are you? You answered: 10 years old. When the next day finally arrived, Princess Xiao Zhao was so nervous that she repeatedly recited "I was ten years old". I am ten "in her mind all the way. Thankfully, the only thing the teacher really asked that day was, "How old are you?" Zhao Fei simply answered, and won the opportunity of admission for himself. But it didn't last long. Soon, the teacher found that she lacked proper answers to almost all other questions. So I suggest that she be transferred to a special education school for mentally retarded children. However, Zhao Fei didn't respond, just because she couldn't understand what the teacher was saying.

In a school with mental retardation, in order to learn English well, Zhao Fei, who was only 10 years old, not only listened carefully to the teacher's pronunciation at school, but also got up at five o'clock every morning, moved an English dictionary and recited it from A. In this way, Zhao Fei only stayed there for one semester and returned to the normal school.

This successful childhood experience, coupled with the fact that as a China native, she received more "attention" than other students (perhaps many others thought it was "discrimination"), which made Zhao Phoebe's other students work harder. 19 years old, has graduated with honors from Brigham Young University in the United States, and is the youngest university graduate. 2 1 year old, with a master's degree in microbiology; 25-year-old doctor, majoring in immunology. Since then, Zhao Fei has never felt any difficulty in class, and she has developed a strong interest in learning. Today, when she talks about her own medical research, she is still as fascinated as a child-"It's a very addictive feeling! How interesting! It's like playing a slot machine in Las Vegas-you never know which experiment will spit out the results you want. "

"Magical chemical experiments lead me to the door of medicine" Many journalists are puzzled that a weak girl like Chen Zhaofei would choose science as her major. Zhao Fei said with a smile, "Actually, I wanted to be a pianist when I was a child." Although I like the piano since I was a child, and I once hoped to be a promising pianist, Zhao Fei, who is getting older, has come into contact with more than the piano. Especially after being exposed to mysterious and changeable chemical experiments, Chen Zhaofei felt that these magical chemical experiments were more challenging to him than the piano. Therefore, she resolutely chose Brigham Young University as her medical major. Chen Zhaofei, aged 65,438+06, spent a lot of time in the microbiology and chemistry laboratory of Brigham Young University. From a volunteer to a formal teaching assistant, Chen Zhaofei has been doing it with great interest. If it weren't for an accidental visit, Chen Zhaofei might have been doing it. In that case, there wouldn't be today's Cheng Yan international organization, and there wouldn't be the birth of the new science "nutritional immunology".

At that time, during a life-changing visit, Chen Zhaofei devoted herself to the drug treatment of cancer for a long time. This accidental opportunity changed the research direction of her life.

On that occasion, she went to the ward to visit a young female patient. At the door of the ward, she saw her three young children playing happily beside her mother, who was busy with her own affairs with her back to the door. Zhao Fei came up to her strangely and asked her, "What are you doing?" . Mother looked up and said to her, "I'm recording. That one-it was given by my son when he graduated, and this one-it was given by my daughter when she got married ... "Before I heard it, Zhao Fei had turned and left the ward. As we all know, cancer is a disease of death. At that time, she knew that no chemotherapy or other drugs could cure cancer. No matter how hard the doctor tried, the mother could not live to attend her son's graduation ceremony or put on a wedding dress for her daughter ... So what is the role of medical care? This problem has been tormenting her.

From Mentally Retarded Girls to Female Scientists —— Interview with Dr. Chen Zhaofei

Even today, mother's eyes and words often appear in Zhao Fei's dreams. But it was this visit that prompted Chen Zhaofei to finally shift his research direction from treatment to prevention. Although people have not yet found a cure for cancer, can people reduce or avoid cancer through effective methods?

Zhao Fei, who founded "nutritional immunology"-improving human immune function and rejecting cancer, began to look for answers optimistically before the end of the master's course. When I was a doctor, I began to study immunology. Through existing and a large number of experiments, Chen Zhaofei found that human immunity comes from a plant substance called "phytonutrients". By taking balanced plant nutrients, the human body can effectively regulate human immune function, thus greatly reducing or even avoiding the occurrence of cancer, which can be achieved by regulating people's daily nutrition. Chen Zhaofei went to attend the nutrition course again. To her surprise, these two closely related courses were not set up in the other major. This discovery made Chen Zhaofei decide to create a discipline combining the two, and its name is nutritional immunology. Its subject purpose is to study how to improve human health through diet, so as to avoid getting cancer. On such a new subject, Chen Zhaofei has such an image metaphor. She compares the human body to a country, and the immune system is like an army. When the human body is violated, this "army" will stand up to protect our bodies.

There is a proverb in Chen Zhaofei that the purpose of any scientific research is to be used by people. But what many people take for granted is actually unscientific. For example, the meat nutrition theory that people are used to thinking about is untenable from the perspective of immunology. Human immunity mainly comes from vegetables and fruits. In addition, when a person is pessimistic or missing, the body will secrete a hormone, which will reduce the immune ability of people by 100 times in 30 minutes. And a happy mood is conducive to improving people's immune ability. In addition, sweating during healthy exercise can expel bad hormones, thus releasing the immune pressure of the human body. And maintaining adequate rest is conducive to the recovery of human immune function.

Because she has always had a strong interest in learning and experiments, if she hadn't met her husband Zhang, Zhao Fei wouldn't have thought of leaving the laboratory and ending her campus career, let alone starting a business with her own scientific research results as products.

When it comes to the establishment of Cheng Yan International, there is a name that cannot be ignored. He is the doctor's partner, Mr. Zhang, the general manager of the international company. Zhang, a native of Shanghai, once worked as a soloist in Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe. 1984 won the "genius music award" from Brigham Young University and went to the school for further study. During my further study in the Department of Vocal Music, I met Ms. Chen Zhaofei, who was then a teaching assistant in the Department of Medicine. Maybe * * * has the same concept of human health, maybe * * * has the same interest in music, and maybe has the same blood relationship with China people. In short, two talented young people, who have a good impression on each other, finally join hands to spend their lives together. Zhao Fei, on the other hand, came out of the deeply infatuated laboratory and ended her doctoral course.

In order to turn their research results into products, benefit the society and contribute to people's health, after marriage, with the support of their husbands, they established the Cheng Yan International Organization from scratch. From the initial husband and wife entrepreneurship to today's 100 experts, from the initial daily profit in 300 yuan to today's large enterprises. Today, Cheng Yan has become a well-known herbaceous plant supply and food manufacturing company in the United States, and its products are sold to more than a dozen countries around the world. Among them, Zhang has an indelible contribution.

Was named "Top Ten Outstanding Young People in America". "We must constantly improve our wisdom so that we can have updated research and development results." Pursuit and exploration can't stop at words. Only through our own efforts can our ideal be realized. This is what Dr. Chen Zhaofei often said, and it is also her lifelong pursuit. Chen Zhaofei, a girl with mental retardation, studied in a special education school for half a year. After twenty years of hard study, she has become a world-famous scientist. Her book Nutritional Immunology was reprinted three times and sold well in major bookstores in the United States. Herbal Medicine and Nutritional Immunology scientifically expounded the relationship between nutrition and immune system, which caused a shock in the industry. Cheng Yan International Company, founded by her husband, has now become a well-known herbaceous plant supply and food manufacturing company in the United States. The "Millennium Spring" healthy drink they produced, which takes pure natural plants as raw materials and extracts high-nutrient phytochemicals, is very effective in maintaining the balance of various systems in the human body. He won the first prize at the World Congress of Traditional Medicine held in 1996, and his book Herbs and Nutritional Immunology-The Road to Scientific Health also won the first prize. She won the "Top Ten Outstanding Youth Award" awarded by American Youth Chamber of Commerce 1997 for her outstanding achievements in popularizing the concept of "nutritional immunology", making contributions to human health and giving back to society with love.