The 9th National Trachea Surgery Conference was successfully held in Shanghai on November 10th, 2018, gathering many renowned experts and surgeons from home and abroad to exchange new ideas and techniques in trachea surgery. During the meeting, Prof. Ralph A. Schmid, from University Hospital Berne (Switzerland), gave a wonderful speech titled, “Stem cells in upper airway”. Seizing this opportunity, we were honored to have Prof. Schmid for an interview.