U of T Medicine Dean embarks on second health and biomedical academic mission to China
By
Nicole Bodnar
U of T Medicine Dean embarks on second health and biomedical academic mission to China
Dean strengthens academic ties with growing universities
Tomorrow, U of T Medicine Dean, Catharine Whiteside, will lead a week-long health and biomedical academic mission in China to strengthen existing academic partnerships with universities in Beijing and Hong Kong and with China’s health ministry. It is her second trip to China to explore the country’s educational, cultural and medical needs and determine how U of T Medicine’s leadership can help improve health in both countries.
The mission begins Monday in Beijing where the Dean will spend two days with leaders from Peking Union Medical College, one of China’s leading medical schools, Capital Medical University, China’s national training centre for general practice, and China’s Ministry of Health, to discuss cooperative opportunities to improve training for family and community physicians in China.
“The University of Toronto has a global brand that’s well known and we remain at the forefront of medical research and education. At the same time, higher education is becoming more and more globally competitive. Therefore, U of T is building strategic partnerships with excellent international institutions in rapidly developing countries like China to advance and apply knowledge in global health,” says Dean Whiteside.
Dean Whiteside will join Lynn Wilson, Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Howard Hu, Director of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Alison Buchan, Vice-Dean of Research & International Relations, who are wrapping up a research conference and family medicine education meetings in Shanghai. The team will meet with Chinese university leaders, government officials and Canadian partners to discuss partnership opportunities for students and faculty.
On Wednesday, the team will travel to Hong Kong to meet leaders from the University of Hong Kong to discuss opportunities that build on the institutions’ relationship and further the success of the joint graduate training program in biomedical sciences research.
QUICK FACTS:
Over 3,700 of U of T undergraduate students and over 400 graduate students come from China, more than any other country.
China is the leading destination for U of T student exchange opportunities.
There are close to 10,000 U of T alumni in China.
U of T has more than 20 cooperation agreements with Chinese institutions.
Norman Bethune, a U of T physician and medical innovator, is a household name in China after Chinese leaders published an essay outlining Bethune’s selflessness in 1939 that became required reading for elementary school students in the 1960s.
LEARN MORE:
Watch a video about the impact being made by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine
View an interactive Google Map illustrating the origins of first-year undergraduates
