August 24, 2009

Today, after meeting all day with health reformers in China, it is clear that partnerships with U.S. academic institutions are important to build capacity and institutional support here.  

At Peking University, Dr. Ke Yang, Executive Vice President of Peking University (PKU), enthusiastically described the great results of a Duke-Peking University two-week global health diploma program with the School of Public Health.

By email, my friend and global leader at Duke University’s Global Health Institute, Mike Merson, M.D. also told me of Duke's training program in cardiovascular disease at Peking University Health Sciences Center and their partnership in a new Center of Excellence in Cardiovascular Disease Research led by Yengfeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D. that is based at The Georges Institute in Sydney, Australia. 

And at Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Global Health, global health leader Sten Vermund, M.D., Ph.D. tells me Vanderbilt has a twelve year partnership with two sides of the Ministry of Health for training, the Foreign Loan Office and National Center for AIDS.  They have strong research ties in Guangxi, Xinjiang, and Yunnan Provinces (one large ongoing study in the former two provinces). Also, they have a special partnership on rural health management training that Governor Bredesen and Commissioner Matt Kisber have co-initiated and sponsored.  In fact, there are other VU links to China (history, business, education, etc) including the partnerships between Fudan University and VU as "peer partner institutions."