On
the evening of December 13, the 2023 Preparatory Meeting for China-UK
University Consortium on Medicine and Health, organized by Sichuan University
and the University of Oxford and hosted by West China Hospital (WCH), was held
both online and offline in Chengdu. Representatives from over 20 universities
in China and the UK participated in this meeting. Notable attendees from the UK
included Professor David James Kerr, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical
Sciences of UK and professor of oncology at the University of Oxford, Professor
Jon Frampton, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, as
well as representatives from the University of Nottingham, the University of
Glasgow, King's College London, among others, who joined the meeting online. On
the Chinese side, Mr. Zhang Yechu, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs
Office of the Sichuan Province, Professor Li Zhengchi, Deputy Party Secretary of
Sichuan University and Party Secretary of WCH, Vice President Yao Leye,
Executive Deputy Director Shen Bin of West China Medical Center, Vice President
Wang Kunjie of WCH, and representatives from eight Chinese universities
including Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong
University participated in the meeting offline.
Li
Zhengchi, speaking on behalf of Sichuan University and the Chinese alliance
members, expressed, "The China-UK University Consortium on Medicine and
Health" is a sustainable international cooperation and research platform
that encompasses various fields such as medical education, talent cultivation,
medical research cooperation, the transformation of medical innovation
outcomes, and the establishment of a Global Health Community. Global major
public health issues have become common challenges that require collaboration
among global universities, including those in China and the UK, to deepen
innovation cooperation and jointly undertake the responsibility and mission of
enhancing human health and well-being. Despite the geographical distance
between the two countries, there is an expectation that the Consortium will
serve as a new starting point to actively promote more profound, comprehensive,
and closer cooperation.
Professor
Mathew Walters, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Nursing at the
University of Glasgow, spoke on behalf of the UK alliance members. He expressed
strong agreement with the objectives and regulations of the consortium and was
pleased to join forces with top Chinese universities to provide constructive
Sino-British wisdom for addressing global major health issues such as cancer
through talent cultivation and high-level research cooperation projects. The UK
universities are looking forward to more pragmatic and efficient cooperation
with their Chinese counterparts.
The
meeting discussed and passed the “Initiative on the resolution of global health
challenges through China-UK collaboration”. This initiative encourages focusing
on and proposing solutions for global major health challenges, forming
interdisciplinary international cooperation in fields such as medical
education, talent cultivation, research collaboration, transformation of medical
achievements, and the establishment of a high-quality think tank for the “Global
Health Community”.
This
preparatory meeting, the second meeting following last year’s " 2022 China-UK University Forum on Medical Innovation Cooperation,"
preliminarily established the future work goals, key cooperation areas,
relevant working mechanisms of the alliance, and discussed the preparations for
the visit of the Sichuan University team to the University of Oxford next year.
