TWENTY years ago, as Dr Dexter Sun embarked on his journey to the distant shores of the United States, the suggestion that he might become the trusted physician to New York's luminaries would have raised some eyebrows. Arriving with limited funds and limited English, he could hardly have imagined the successes that were to fill the next 20 years of the resilient 23 year old's life.

Since arriving in Minnesota, in 1984, Dr Sun has passed through some of the most prominent universities in the United States - Yale, Cornell, Columbia - to become a leading international expert in his field of neuro-therapy; established a flourishing neurology clinic in Manhattan's Upper East Side, from which he offers the latest medical treatments; and has claimed the patronage of the rich and famous, from internationally known violinists and rock stars to politicians and sports personalities.

As one of Dr Sun's patients, John McEnroe, might have said: "You cannot be serious!"

Yet he could not be more so. And in the latest leg of this remarkable passage, Dr Sun now returns to his native country to bring advanced medical technology back home. "I want to serve my people," he says earnestly. "And bring the best in Western medicine to my homeland. I want to show the world China can offer top medical care."

With his first Chinese clinic, SinoUnited Health, having opened at the Portman Centre in Shanghai last September, Sun is beginning to see 20 years of hard work come to fruition. The centre specializes in pain management, sports medicine and physical therapy, disciplines previously almost unknown in China. It hopes to bridge the gap between Western and traditional Chinese medicine and to bring Shanghai access to the finest in health care.

US training

Sun began his medical career at 18 years of age, when he enrolled in HongChou Medical School. He graduated early at just 23, and in 1984 moved to Minnesota, in the US, for further study. "It was so hard to understand their English. I went to my neuro-anatomy lecture and I was totally lost. I understood about 30 per cent and couldn't write a note. I was so, so shocked. I wrote to my parents that I didn't think I could do it."

Sun thinks back to those difficult early days. "I was so homesick. It was a totally different world, everyone who looked at me was a stranger."

Yet he was not to be driven away. "For four years I had worked hard in China to get my ticket to the States and to be able to go. I wasn't going to give up. I arrived in the US in 1984 on Thanksgiving Day and I went straight to a restaurant and asked to be a waiter in order to pay my tuition fees."

During the next 14 years his successes would include admittance to Cornell University Medical Centre as a neurology resident and, in 1992, to a post doctorate fellowship at the Rockefeller Institute.

Later he decided to return to New York as the attending physician at Cornell and in 1998 he was able to set up his own practice. "As a foreigner it was extremely difficult to set up in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It's a very smart area. But I have the courage, I have the desire, and I was able to show the people that I have the knowledge too. I knew I could do it."

Two years later the risk had paid off. "We are now the busiest practice in Manhattan for neurology," explains Sun, who treats many famous names. His clients have included Match Box 21's Robert Thomas, old school rocker Neil Young, the late violinist Isaac Stern, and a regular flow of politicians and ambassadorial attaches. Many of these luminaries can be glimpsed smiling happily beside Sun in the photos welcoming clients into the clinic.

Tennis player John McEnroe is another devotee. "He's such a nice guy, but very, very tense," smiles Sun.

Thriving career

Despite all his success in the US, Sun says that China is still his main concern. "My country had nothing 20 years ago and I am very happy to see my homeland advancing. But the medicine is way behind Europe and the US. Now I want to help radically transform our health practices also."

The government has been very encouraging. With 2008 and the Beijing Olympic Games approaching, they see China has a great need for sports medicine. In May, the first international Symposium of Sports Medicine is to be held in Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, Dr Sun has been invited to speak at the conference, which will be attended by the field's greatest minds.

Sun's international standing has enabled him to enlist the world's leading specialists in the project. Many make frequent visits to Shanghai from the West, for a week at a time, to offer consultations at the SinoUnited clinic. Sun himself returns from the States every two months to bring modern medical treatment to Shanghai's residents. Soon, he hopes to take it on to Beijing and beyond.

The technical facilities he has brought to the urbanites of Shanghai are remarkable. With the support of Cornell, Dr Sun is able to provide access to state-of-the-art imaging centres, MRI and CT scanning, ultra sound and X-ray facilities and, the very latest in neuro-technology, the EMG machine.

Rather than employing general practitioners, as usually found within a surgery, he has selected medical consultants, each with their own field of specialization. This keeps the referral system within the clinic, he explains, and increases the centre's ability to focus correctly on the exact cause of, and appropriate cure for, each problem.

Entering the SinoUnited waiting area, the atmosphere is warm, welcoming and inviting, the reception staff friendly and helpful. Patients like Barbara Koh, an American writer living in Shanghai and a patient at the clinic, find the level of professionalism, practicality and useful advise Sun has instilled in his staff a refreshing relief.

"Dr Sun wants the best quality health care for his clients, he's got very high standards," agrees Chris Alded, a leading British physiotherapist who was brought over to Shanghai by Dr Sun for the clinic's opening. "He's an inspiration to us all."

Dr Sun does not strike one as particularly sentimental, but that is not to say he isn't a man of quiet passion. It has taken 20 years of hard work and determination, but with such results it has been worth every strain. Sun folds his fingers together and looks straight ahead. "After all this time," he says, "the dream has finally come true."