Education Highlight – In November 2017, a group from UNMC’s College of Public Health (COPH) visited China to participate in the 9th Annual Symposium of the China-US Research Center for Life Sciences, which pairs UNMC investigators with peers from Chinese institutions. The Symposium was jointly initiated by UNMC and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2007, and it alternates location each year between Beijing and Omaha. This year CAS hosted the Symposium which was focused on infectious disease and public health. UNMC and CAS invited Dr. Dave Franz to give a keynote speech at the opening of the symposium.
The group also visited Capital Medical University (CMU), one of the top academic medical institutions in China. The partnership between UNMC and CMU was formalized in February 2016. UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., and other leadership from UNMC visited CMU and signed an agreement that laid the groundwork for collaborations and student exchange. As a result of the initial agreement, medical, nursing, and physical therapy students from CMU and UNMC have visited each other’s campuses for short-term exchange. Additionally, three students from CMU have participated in the COPH Certificate in Public Health program to date. The group from UNMC met with the leadership from CMU School of Public Health and the Office of International Cooperation to discuss collaboration in research and student exchanges as well as capstone projects. The group met with COPH alumni Wanying Pei and Min Chen who were the first CMU students to complete the certificate program at UNMC. They also visited with Dr. Yang Li, a lecturer at CMU School of Public Health, who is currently a visiting scholar at the COPH.
The group visited the Chinese CDC in Beijing, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, and Tongji University in Shanghai to present and extend collaboration opportunities between COPH and these Chinese partners.
This article was written by Jane Meza, Ph.D., Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Global and Student Support, Senior Associate Dean, Professor of Biostatistics.