Tu Youyou - Giving a Voice to Underrepresented Areas of Science

May 10, 2023

Noa Essner

10th Grade

Ramaz Upper School

For over a century, receiving the Nobel Prize has been a standing signifier of great progress and achievement in one of seven disciplines: chemistry, physics, economics, physiology, peace, literature, or medicine. Of nearly a thousand winners since the prize originated in 1901, only 59 of those winners are of Asian ethnicity. Yet, among those winners, one remarkable female scientist has truly broken down barriers and made her mark on the STEM community by becoming the first female Asian scientist to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in either physiology or medicine. This individual is Tu Youyou, a Chinese chemist whose development of the drug artemisinin is providing people worldwide with a life-saving treatment for malaria. 

Malaria is a disease, often carried by mosquitoes, which is estimated to result in the death of 2,000 people each day, in addition to higher numbers in children and adults in some developing countries. Youyou’s team, which consists of her colleagues William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura, developed a new treatment for malaria by studying a plant called Artemisia Annua, which is essentially wormwood, but is also related to algae. Chinese medicine often makes use of wormwood as a cure for headaches and fevers. Youyou took this one step further, however, discovering that the plant contains a compound that can be used to treat malaria. With her partners, she extracted what is now called “artemisinin,” which, over a decade later, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved as a suitable treatment for malaria. 

Today, artemisinin is estimated to have prevented millions of deaths from malaria and has been a vital resource for developing countries. Being the only female scientist in the trio of three, Tu Youyou received special recognition for her participation and invaluable contribution to the team and its incredible success. In 2015, around Youyou’s Nobel Prize nomination, a study regarding malaria conducted by the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings found that since the 2000s, “the mortality rate has dropped by an astounding 60 percent, due to improved prevention and treatment: about half of this reduction can be attributed to modern medication like the WHO-recommended ‘artemisinin-based combination therapy.’” 

Beyond the numbers and the statistics, what’s noteworthy about Tu Youyou’s Nobel Prize recognition is the pathway it opens up for current and aspiring female scientists alike. In a predominantly male field, recognizing female achievements in the scientific industry provides young girls with role models to look up to when entering STEM fields. As stated by Nikkei Asia, “Girls who see more women who look like them winning will get the message that they, too, can rise to the top of these competitive fields. Celebrating the achievements of female scientists will not only benefit women, it will uplift STEM fields more broadly.” In other words, the recognition of female scientists like Youyou paves the way for other girls to delve into scientific disciplines and become conscious of the fact that they, too, have the power to make a change.

Additionally, though uncommon, Tu Youyou had neither a medical degree nor complete training before beginning her work and research in chemistry. This demonstrates that achieving one’s goals doesn’t necessarily mean following a single monolithic path. Rather, it demonstrates that hard work and dedication are the most vital steps to achievement. One failure does not define someone, and each challenge is just a roadblock in their journey to success.