Introduction
The Graduate Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine was founded in 2000 and the admission of new students began in July 2001.
The purposes are:
1. Integration of Traditional Medicine and Modern Technology
The traditional Chinese medicine of our country is well established and constantly develops through experimentation. It has become a unique academic field and received more and more attention in recent years. However, the ancient medical physicians were situated in different circumstances of time and space with different experiences and backgrounds. Therefore, the formation of a precise and well-knit infrastructure was rather difficult and the potential to making contributions to the field was greatly limited. Chinese medicine needs to absorb the useful concepts and methods of the modern academic community, improve and demonstrate a new meaningfulness, and become assimilated in the medical future of the world. In order to achieve this objective, the specialized personnel shall be dynamically educated, provided with a broad view and a broad horizon, and trained in the capabilities of independent thinking and in-depth research to facilitate the development of medicine and benefit humankind.
2 Education of Specialized Personnel of Advanced Chinese Medicine
Currently academic institutions for specialized personnel in Chinese medicine include the Graduate Institute of Chinese Medical Science and the Graduate Institute of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine of the China Medical University and the Institute of Traditional Medicine of National Yang-Ming University. However, thousands of people travel to Mainland China and the United States to learn Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture and tens of thousands of people take the Professional and Technical Special Examination for Doctors of Chinese Medicine through self-education. The research and development of Chinese medical science has gained more and more attention in the international medical community. In future, the establishment of Chinese medical institutions will become more widespread. The need for the specialized personnel of the Chinese medicine in society has become more prominent and specialized educational institutions should be established immediately.
3. The Overall Development of Clinical Education and Research
The Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Chang Gung University was founded 8 years ago and the Department of Chinese Medicine of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital was founded 10 years ago. As far as the overall development of the education of Chinese medicine at the University is concerned, a channel for advanced studies should be established to train and develop the faculty. In the future, the Chinese Medical Hospital and the Institute of Physiology and Pharmacology in planning will be integrated to create a complete traditional medicine science research and development center to bring teaching, clinical practice, and research together and thus benefit each other
Main responsibilities
The Institute’s aim is to develop traditional Chinese medicine on the basis of its own theories and clinical practice and using the concepts, technology, and methods of Western medicine. We hope to investigate human health and sickness from the viewpoint of mathematics, physics, and life sciences, using integrated interdisciplinary methods in order to research questions relating to common refractory diseases among Taiwan’s population.
Education Objectives
1. Development Directions
Future development directions are based on the theory and clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine and utilize relevant concepts, techniques, and methods of modern science to develop Chinese medicine. The development directions also include investigation of the health and the diseases of the human body from the aspects of mathematics, physics, and life science and studies of the issues related to the difficult diseases based on cross-disciplinary integration.
2. Development Focuses: Based on the directions described above, the research focuses of the Institute are as follows:
 The study of the fundamental theory of traditional Chinese medicine
 The study of the clinical therapeutic efficacy and the mechanisms of acupuncture
 The study of the clinical therapeutic efficacy of Chinese medicine
 The study of the measurement and the physiological effect of the bioenergy field
 The study of the physical properties of channel phenomenon
 The study of the standardization of Chinese medical diagnosis
 The study of the effects of Chinese medicine on immunogenes and oncogenes

Development Planning
The development of Chinese medicine and pharmacy is one of the medium-term goals of Chang Gung University. In order to promote the modernization and scientization of Chinese medicine, we believe that by using the resources of and successes attained by the Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Science, the Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, the Graduate Institute of Natural Products, and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, we be able, in the not too distant future, to produce experts in integrated Chinese and Western medicine in order to promote the modernization of Chinese medicine.
Students of the Institute mostly have a background in medicine. They combine their medical experience with their knowledge of basic medicine to perform clinical research in integrated Chinese and Western medicine with a view to enhancing the quality of treatment. Making use of a combined Chinese and Western outpatients clinic and the hospital’s inpatients resources, students conduct research in common refractory diseases, developing the potential of Chinese medicine and pharmacy, evaluating its efficacy, and studying its mechanisms, thereby making a valuable contribution to health care. Initially, the accent is on cerebrovascular accident, immune diseases, and tumors.