Mike Yihhuei Mah

Doctor of Medicine, National Taiwan University, College of Medicine, Taiwan, ROC 國立台灣大學醫學院畢業;

PhD of Medicine, National Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi, Japan 日本山口大學醫學博士;

Various positions in Kaohsiung Medical University 高雄醫學院各項職位 1957-1976:

Director of Pediatrics 小兒科主任 1958-1973;

Director of General Affairs 總務主任 1967-1969;

Dean 教務主任 1973-1976;

Director of Pathology 病理學主任 1973-1978;

Professor 教授 1959-1976;

Honorary Professor 名譽教授;

Honorary Alumni 名譽校友 2011;

Commissioner of Professor Qualification Committee, Taiwan Ministry of Education, ROC 中華民國教育部委託審查大專教授資格;

Japan Educational Calligraphy Association 日本書道聯盟

Rank 8 (highest rank) in Calligraphy 書法八段 2009;

Honorary Professor名譽教授;

Commissioner of Ranking Review Committee 檢定考試審查委員;

Mike Yihhuei Mah was born on August 14, 1926, in Tainan Taiwan during the period of Japanese governance. He was the first of three children. He was smart as a child and was favored by his class teacher. At that time, all students were required to shave their head, but his teacher let him keep a small flat hairline. This was consistent from 1st grade, all the way up until 4th grade. Being smart and hard working led him to gain admission into Tokyo Medical University. As a result of the war ending, he ended up studying at National Taiwan University College of Medicine instead. When he learned he was admitted, he ran to the sports field kneeling down to praise God. While Japan and America were at war, he served in the army. One day, there was an attack by an American fighter war plane. Mike was preoccupied and late to start running for cover. As he was running toward a bunker, a squad sergeant gestured to him to run to his bunker. Soldiers near the entrance of the original bunker he was heading to were shot dead. He said to the squad sergeant "God has saved my life through you.”

After graduation, Mike practiced at the Taipei Hospital. Later, he married Horshiang. Together they raised their two children: a daughter, Pearlynn, and a son, Jeremy.

Afterwards, he moved to Kaohsiung, and joined the Kaohsiung Medical College affiliated Hospital as a Pediatrician. During the time, there were only two pediatricians besides the Director of Pediatrics. A year later, the director left and he was promoted to the Director of Pediatrics. He joked to himself that “There is no general in Shu, Liao Hua is the vanguard”. Nonetheless, he served that position for 15 years.

While practicing in the clinic, he did not loosen up on his studies and research. Every weekday, at 6:30 am, he would turn the radio to listen to “Conversational American English” hosted by Mr. Bingzhong Wu. Mike wanted build up peoples’s confidence in speaking English with foreigners, so he told all participants that they must speak English in the morning meeting of the Pediatrics department. Mike’s area of research was on the kidneys. On one of his many research experiments, he bought several monkeys, some large, some small. This particular experiment called for injecting some toxins in each healthy monkey’s kidney in proportion to how big they were. Unfortunately the amounts of toxin were reversed – larger monkeys got small doses while smaller monkeys got large doses. This led to the death of all the smaller monkeys. At first, he cried “Oh no, the research is ruined!” But after analyzing the data, he discovered some unique phenomenon no one else had ever reported. This fulfilled “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who builds it”, or the saying “Man proposes, God disposes”. He put this newfound discovery into a thesis and acquired a PhD degree in medicine. Later on, he got a grant from the National Science Council to do research in Michael Reese Hospital and Research Center, Chicago, USA for one year.

After serving as the Director of Pediatrics at Kaohsiung Medical University, he moved on to Administration serving Director of General Affairs and Dean. As in this high ranking position of Director of GA, people would often send him gifts with cash. He always returned these so that he could handle things without preferential treatment. While he was Dean, he promoted “Clinical Study be affiliated with Basic Medicine Study, Basic Medicine Study be affiliated with Clinical Study”. It meant for the Basic Medicine course, on top of the regular lecturer, guest speakers with clinical experience were invited to speak; for the Clinical training course, guest speakers with Basic Medicine background presented and related the principal/thesis behind a real situation.

In his later year with Kaohsiung Medical University, he rediscovered a hobby from his youth: Calligraphy. When he enrolled in calligraphy class, all his classmates were elementary school students – he alone was a student of age. After he built up the fundamentals again, he studied different styles of calligraphy and apprenticed for a renowned calligrapher as far as Chiayi, Taichung. Once a week, he travelled by bus for apprenticeship – a real example of Live and Learn. After immigrating to the United States in 1988, he started developing his own personal style. His works won several awards in competitions and he had received the highest rank in calligraphy from Japan Educational Calligraphy Association .

In his retirement in San Jose, CA, he actively participated in the church affairs of both Taiwanese American Presbyterian Church of San Jose and Canaan Taiwanese Christian Church. He got to know some friends and travelled with them as far as Israel and Egypt; and experienced with them the results of growing vegetables and fruits. Through his calligraphy class teaching, he got to know people of all works of life, and helped people with his medical expertise. When reflecting on his life, he said, “The blessing of God on me far exceeds what I could have imagined”.

故人出生於1926年台灣台南市，屬日本治理時代。自幼聰明，得師長喜愛。小學一年級，班上同學都理光頭，唯獨他能留小平頭，一直到四年級。聰明加上努力，讓他考上東京醫專。因戰爭結束轉唸台大醫學院。當他得知考上時，跑到操場跪下，向上帝感謝。之前日軍還與美軍打仗時，有次美國軍機來掃射，他本要躲到某一個防空壕，班長叫他躲到他那邊去。結果原本他要躲的那個防空壕，裡面靠近門口人員被射死。他跟班長說：上帝透過你救了我的命。

醫學院畢業後到台北醫院上班，後與王荷香女仕結婚，育有一女佩瑩一男穎哲。之後遷往高雄，在高雄醫學院附屬醫院當小兒科醫生。那時小兒科除了主任外，只有兩個醫生。隔年主任離職，他就升為小兒科主任，自己戲稱”蜀中無大將，廖化作先鋒”。然而這一當，就當了15年。

在門診任職也不忘進修研究。週日早上6：30必收聽收音機吳炳忠主持的美式英語會話，同時部門的晨間會報也要求大家用英語來報告，讓大家建立信心用英語和外國人交談。他選擇對腎臟作研究。期間他買了一批猴子，有大有小。先檢測每隻的腎臟都沒問題，注射毒素觀其反應。原計劃是大的毒素數量多，小的數量少。他自己親手弄，但數量卻弄反，小的多，大的少。結果小的都死了。心想完了，搞砸了。然而卻因此發現沒有人報告過的現象，應驗”房屋若不是耶和華建造，建造也是枉然”, 或俗語”謀事在人，成事在天”。他將此發現寫成一篇論文，而得到博士學位。之後申請國科會獎助金，1966 年到美國芝加哥Michael Reese 做一年深造。

後來他轉到高雄醫學院的行政部門，先後擔任總務主任，教務主任。總務主任是肥缺，常常有人送禮，裡面夾帶現金，他都把他們退回去，免得做事不能秉公處理。在擔任教務主任時致力推行”臨床基礎化，基礎臨床化”。即在基礎醫學課程除正歸基礎講師外，請臨床醫師擔任客作講師，講授實際應用的方式，同時也請基礎醫學教師於臨床訓練課程授課，讓學生了解各種情況是跟那個理論有關。

在高醫任職最後幾年中，重拾幼年嗜好，寫毛筆字。他先去報名參加書法班，同學都是小學生，只有他一人是有歲數的。基礎打好後就進一步硏究各種不同字體的涵意，並拜師學習，遠到嘉義，台中。一個星期坐車一次來回，是所畏”活到老，學到老”。1988年移居美國後，更進一步發展自己的寫法。送件參加比賽，也多次得到獎賞，且得到日本書道協會八段認可。

在退休生活中，活躍於聖荷西台美長老教會及北加州迦南基督教會。結識一些好友，一起出遊各國，遠達以色列，埃及。分享種菜，種果的心得及成果。透過書法班教學，結識各層人士, 用他的醫學知識幫助人。

當故人回顧他一生時說:“上帝給我的賜福，遠遠超過我所能想像的”。