On September 30, the 2024 China Government Friendship Award Ceremony was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Professor David James Kerr, a distinguished foreign expert at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, was honored with the 2024 China Government Friendship Award for his outstanding contributions to talent training and medical research in Chinese universities. The award was granted following a rigorous selection process. He also attended the reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, where President Xi Jinping delivered important remarks.

Professor Kerr is a renowned oncologist, a tenured professor at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in the UK. He became an honorary professor at Sichuan University in 2018, received the "Tianfu Friendship Award" in 2022, and was named an "Outstanding Individual in Chengdu’s Initiative to Build a Nationally Influential Science and Technology Innovation Center" in 2023. Since 2018, Professor Kerr has forged a deep, long-term partnership with our hospital, providing invaluable guidance in scientific research and talent cultivation in gastrointestinal oncology. He has also actively shared cutting-edge research from Oxford University and the latest developments in international research, significantly advancing substantive collaboration between Oxford University’s Department of Oncology and West China Hospital and accelerating our progress in producing internationally impactful research achievements.

The China Government Friendship Award is the highest honor conferred by the Chinese government to foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization and reform and opening-up efforts. In 2024, 100 foreign experts were honored with this prestigious award.