Soon after returning to Taiwan, he made a name for himself in the medical community with his discovery that blackfoot disease, a peripheral vascular disorder endemic to the southwest coast of the island, was caused by the consumption of artesian well water containing high levels of arsenic.
回國後，他很快找出台灣西南沿海烏腳病的流行，是因為地下水受到重金屬砷汙染，而在學術上嶄露頭角。