Chancellor Collins to strengthen international partnerships with return trip to China
Chancellor Michael F. Collins will return to China at the beginning of October to strengthen strategically important academic partnerships with several Chinese medical institutions. Dr. Collins will make connections with long-time collaborators, share information about the new UMass Medical School curriculum and its focus on primary care, and offer insights into U.S. health care reform using Massachusetts as an example.
“Over the years, we have developed strong relationships with several medical institutions in China, and it is important to continue to grow those partnerships,” said Chancellor Collins. “We will meet with old friends, share information that will benefit us both and continue to add layers to these bonds.”
The week-long trip includes a visit to Tsinghua University in Beijing, where Craig Mello, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine and distinguished professor of molecular medicine and cell biology, is an honorary professor. He will also visit the Ministry of Education and meet with executive from the Chinese Education and Research Network.
Chancellor Collins will then travel to Chengdu to visit West China Hospital, which is part of Sichuan University, to meet with university leaders and connect with Sichuan students who have trained at UMMS. While in Chengdu, he will give the keynote address at the Sichuan-UMass Forum on Health, titled “Massachusetts Health Care Reform: How one state’s experiment became the nation’s model for reforming the U.S. health care system.” Also speaking at the forum will be Catarina Kiefe MD, PhD, chair and professor of quantitative health sciences and professor of medicine, on population health research.
Other highlights of the trip include a meeting with leadership of Tongji University, one of the Medical School’s most active partners, and a visit to the Thenth Hospital to meet with officials and UMMS-trained students.
In November 2008, Chancellor Collins along with Dean Terence R. Flotte, MD, Dr. Mello, Donna Ambrosino, MD, professor of pediatrics and director of MassBiologics, and others traveled to China to lay the groundwork for many of these important collaborations. The group also presented 13 Sichuan University students with scholarships from the Mello-UMass Fund, created by Mello in response a devastating earthquake in the Sichuan region of China. The fellowships were presented at a ceremony attended by more than 600 cheering students at Sichuan University.
The Chancellor's efforts to extend the Medical School’s global reach also took him to India last year, where the Medical School has established a partnership with one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers to produce and test a monoclonal antibody to rabies, a disease that kills thousands in India each year.
Editor’s note: UMassMedNow will follow the Chancellor’s trip overseas. Check back periodically for updates and images from China.
