Echopedia

Prof. Sze-ya Yeh & Grace H. Yeh (葉思雅、張信惠)

10 min read

Prof. Sze-ya Yeh & Grace H. Yeh (葉思雅、張信惠)

Identity Snapshot

  • English: Prof. Sze-ya Yeh & Grace H. Yeh
  • Also seen: Ye Siya & Zhang Xinhui — 2023 roster pinyin. Yeh Ssu-ya and Chang Hsin-hui are other romanizations. TAH 447 use Sze-ya Yeh. TAH #448 is Grace H. Yeh. Twins 葉思雅 and Grace H. Yeh not merged.
  • Chinese: 葉思雅、張信惠
  • Core roles: Obstetrician/gynecologist; music educator & performer
  • Relationship: Married couple
  • Geography: Taiwanese American (Los Angeles / Arcadia, CA)
  • Era: 1960s–2020s

Overview

Ye Siya (葉思雅, b. 1937) is a Taiwanese American obstetrician and gynecologist whose career spanned clinical practice, academic medicine, and international medical education. Zhang Xinhui (張信惠, b. 1938) is a musician, choir director, and music educator who helped establish the Los Angeles Taiwan Christ Memorial Church and led its song ministry.

Ye Siya — Medical Career

  1. Born in 1937 in Taipei to a three-generation physician family; father Ye Bing-song was an internist who died in World War II when Ye was seven.
  2. Graduated from National Taiwan University Medical College in 1962, then completed residency in obstetrics and gynecology at NTU Hospital.
  3. In 1967, applied to Yale University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for research training; participated in the development of the first fetal heartbeat monitor, enabling prenatal detection of fetal distress.
  4. Transferred to University of Southern California (USC) in 1969 under Dr. Edward H. Hon and Dr. Edward J. Quilligan, continuing fetal monitoring research and settling in Arcadia, CA.
  5. Completed clinical residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (1974–1976), receiving a shortened two-year program under Prof. Luigi Mastroianni.
  6. Joined Columbia University as a faculty member (1976–1978), then returned to USC as Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (1979–1990).
  7. Served as Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia (1990–2002), and held professorships at Temple and Jefferson medical schools until retirement.
  8. Published over 100 papers and delivered guest lectures worldwide as a visiting professor.
  9. In 1981, became the first Taiwanese obstetrician invited by the World Health Organization to visit and lecture in China, speaking on behalf of Taiwan’s medical community.
  10. Retired from clinical medicine in 2002 but continued community engagement through music appreciation programs and cultural activities.

Zhang Xinhui — Music & Faith

  1. Graduated in 1963 from the National College of Music (now National Taiwan University of the Arts), majoring in piano under masters Jin Baoyi and Tian Zi.
  2. Grew up in a pastor’s household; immersed in church music and hymnody from childhood.
  3. Co-founded the Los Angeles Taiwan Christ Memorial Church (|FPCLA) and served as director of its choir and song ministry.
  4. In 1992, organized a family wedding performance where the couple and five uncles sang wedding hymns, becoming a celebrated anecdote in the community.
  5. Together with Ye Siya, established the classical music appreciation program at the San Gabriel Valley Taiwanese Community Center (2015–2020), leading weekly sessions for five years.
  6. Co-authored a weekly classical music column for the Taiwan Public Justice newspaper from 2020 to 2022, producing 100 articles.

Career / Legacy

Medical Legacy

Ye Siya’s research on fetal monitoring contributed to the clinical adoption of cardiotocography, allowing physicians to detect fetal hypoxia before birth. His WHO mission to China in 1981 represented a milestone for Taiwanese medical professionals engaging in cross-strait academic exchange, where he advocated for Taiwan’s distinct identity while providing humanitarian medical expertise.

Cultural & Religious Contributions

The couple co-founded TARSA (|Taiwanese American Religious Study Association) in 2009 with Lin Tianmin, Huang Zhiyang, Huang Youcheng, and others, promoting interfaith dialogue among Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews. TARSA hosted monthly study sessions at the Taiwan Community Center until its dissolution in 2020. The couple also donated their 10,000+ classical music record and CD collection to Taiwan: donation coverage appeared in October 2019, the 4,000+ vinyl records and 6,000+ CDs shipped to Taiwan in late April 2020 after more than a year of searching, and the “信雅古典音樂珍藏專區” at the Xu-Shi Music Library in Tainan opened on 2021-10-15, with Mayor Huang Wei-je connecting with the couple by video. TJJ, 2021-10-15

Personal & Family

  1. Married in 1964 after meeting in the YMCA Sacred Song Choir directed by Pastor Zhang Fengchang; Ye was a medical student at NTU and Zhang was a fourth-year piano student at the Music College.
  2. Their son Michael (Ye Mingqing) graduated from UC San Francisco Medical College and UC Berkeley (MPH, MBA), working in the pharmaceutical industry in Boston.
  3. Their daughter Carol (Ye Mingyi) graduated from Yale and studied American Sign Language at Gallaudet University, serving the deaf community in their church.
  4. Both are devout Christians; Ye was baptized by Rev. Hugh MacMillan and joined the faith through the YMCA George Williams Fellowship.
  5. In 2004, Ye visited Japan’s Yasukuni Shrine with Dr. Liu Yangchuan and Dr. Honda Hiroshi, seeking closure about his father’s death in WWII; the visit confirmed his father Ye Bing-song was killed when the SS Buenger was torpedoed by USS Hake in 1944.

Role in the Community (Corpus Records)

  • 1970 — Los Angeles Presbyterian church founding. Ye Siya is named among those who actively supported Rev. Chang Juei-hsiung’s pioneering of the first Taiwanese Presbyterian congregation in Los Angeles (with Ko Kuo-min, Chen Chao-chun, Lee Zong-pai, Hsu Wen-pin, Wang Chun-hsiung, Wu Cheng-yen, and Lai Hsin-hsiung), which was received by the PCUSA in 1973 as the first Taiwanese church in the United States to do so. Our Journeys 231 — LA Church founding history
  • 2014 — Retrospective essay. Ye authored a personal account of more than thirty years in America, Retrospective and Reflections on Over Thirty Years in America.
  • 2014 — Interview on the record collection. Li Shu-ying interviewed Ye Siya “starting from the more than ten thousand records in his collection,” Interview with Dr. Ye Siya — Starting from His Collection of Over Ten Thousand Records.
  • 2019 — Donation coverage. An October 2019 news item reported the half-century collection of ten thousand vinyl records and CDs donated to Taiwan, Famed Taiwanese-American Doctor’s Half-Century Collection: Ten Thousand Vinyl Records and CDs Donated to Taiwan; the same coverage exists in video form, 旅美名醫珍藏半世紀 萬張黑膠CD無償捐台灣. A companion bibliographic record dates the donation of the life-time collection to a music organization in Taiwan at 2019-12-16, CD, 2019. HOLD resolved 2026-10-13 by the 2021-10-15 opening-coverage article below: donation coverage (2019-10), shipment (2020-04) and zone opening (2021-10-15) are one sequence, not conflicting dates.
  • 2019 — Resident memoir essay. Ye’s first-person account “當美國住院醫師的第一天” (My First Day as a US Resident), 10).
  • 2018 — Professor profile. Prof. Sze-ya Yeh 葉思雅教授 biographical profile record, Prof. Sze-ya Yeh (2018).
  • 2015 — Zhang Xinhui profile. Grace H. Yeh / 張信惠 profile record, 06).
  • Zhang Xinhui essay. “Love Is the Best Medicine” / 愛是最佳良藥 by 張信惠, Love Is the Best Medicine.
  • Medical profiles. Two biographical records on Ye Siya (Sze-Ya Yeh) in the archive: Dr. Sze-Ya Yeh — Participation and Advocacy and Dr. Sze-Ya Yeh — The First.
  • 2014 — TARSA founding memoir. Ye’s own first-person account of establishing TARSA, 創設 TARSA 的心路歷程 (2014/11), 11) — primary source for the 2009 founding date above.
  • 2014 — Zhang Xinhui faith essay. 張信惠’s essay on her religious faith journey, 宗教信仰心路歷程 (2014/11), 11).
  • 2015 — Who’s Who profile. Ye Siya (Sze-ya Yeh) entry in the archive’s Who’s Who, 06).
  • 2019 — Collection record. Bibliographic record of Prof. Sze-ya Yeh’s personal collection, 10) — complements the donation coverage above.
  • 2016 — Classical-music appreciation class, LA. The couple co-hosted the classical music appreciation class at the Greater Los Angeles Taiwan Center (大洛杉磯台灣會館) — sessions documented April, June and October 2016 (Handel, Haydn, monthly sessions). Zhang Xinhui is music-college trained and once accompanied baritone Lee Tai-hong; Ye studied piano under Lu Quan-sheng. TJJ, 2016-04-05 and TJJ, 2016-06-06
  • 2016 — October session announcement. Session notice naming the couple as hosts, TJJ, 2016-10-04.
  • 2018 — NTU alumni open letter. Ye Siya (葉思雅, 醫科) is listed among the ~170 National Taiwan University alumni who co-signed the open letter protesting the Southern California NTU Alumni Association’s invitation of Kuan Chung-ming amid the disputed president-selection case. TJJ, 2018-07-20. Attribution note: the roster identifies the signatory only as 葉思雅(醫科) — consistent with, but not independently confirmed as, this Ye Siya.
  • 2021 — 信雅 classical music collection zone opened. The donated collection (4,000+ vinyl records, 6,000+ CDs) opened as a lending/listening zone at Tainan’s Xu-Shi Music Library on 2021-10-15, with Mayor Huang Wei-je joining the couple by video. The coverage also records that after retiring from clinical practice, Ye hosted a weekly music-appreciation program at a Pennsylvania senior center before the couple’s later Los Angeles classes. TJJ, 2021-10-15
  • Note (disambiguation): “肇輝、信惠夫婦” of a Chicago 北濱會 circle (林壽英 memoir, Our Journey 221) and 梁信惠 in 洪德生、梁信惠 夫婦返台服務 are different persons — not merged.

From the record

  • 2018-02-08 — 台美人信仰與人文研習會 Q&A session. A Taiwan Justice tag-archive listing (黃哲陽 tag, Wayback capture 2021-06-21) records the entry 「台美人信仰與人文研習會2月研習會-葉思雅 蔡米山 蔡長宗 黃哲陽 吳武雄醫師Q&A @大洛杉磯台灣會館20180208」 — Ye Siya (葉思雅) named as a participant-speaker in the February 2018 TARSA study session with physicians 蔡米山、蔡長宗、吳武雄 and 黃哲陽 at the Greater Los Angeles Taiwan Center. Corroborates the TARSA activity window already on this page (founding 2009, monthly sessions at the Taiwan Community Center). Label: sourced (listing re-read this pass; full name 葉思雅 present, not surname-only). TJJ 標籤頁 黃哲陽, 存檔 2021-06-21
  • 2021-05-01 — 「週末漫談音樂」 column, page-2 category listing. A Taiwan Justice category snapshot of the 「週末漫談音樂」 column (Wayback capture 2022-06-26) shows the column by 信雅 still active into May 2021 — 【週末漫談音樂(65)】音樂界 – 有男女平等麼？ ◎信雅 dated May 1, 2021 — alongside the 2021-10-15 信雅古典音樂珍藏專區啟用 coverage in the same listing. Extends the documented column run (page lists entries from 2020-03-28 through 2021-08-14) beyond the 2020–2022 span stated above; the byline 信雅 is the couple’s joint pen name. Label: sourced (listing re-read this pass). TJJ 週末漫談音樂 page 2, 存檔 2022-06-26

Source Notes and Confidence

  • Content priority A: 2023 TAHS Publication (profile, “典範‧傷逝” section, ~2720 lines)
  • Hub: |2023 TAHS Publication
  • Archive: Section dump at knowledge/research/tahs-2023-section-dumps/ye-siya-zhang-xinhui-xu-zongbang-li-mutong-chen-wenxue-wang-kexiong-...txt (lines 750–1340)
  • Layout-limited extraction; not a full translation

Graph View

Backlinks