Jian Xu, President of the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Yiwu and David Williams, Chair of the Department of Surgery, signed an agreement to expand collaboration between teams of both universities.
Members of the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FoMD) traveled to China late November, 2018, with positive outcomes of strengthened agreements and new avenues for professional and academic partnerships in medical training. Chairs and professors from the departments of Surgery, Family Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology spent several days at the The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, located in the city of Yiwu, presenting at workshops and attending tours and meetings in the hospital.
The encounter led to a new agreement between the surgery departments of both universities to solidify the partnership through the organization of a biennial international conference. The teams also discussed the expansion of exchange trip opportunities for FoMD surgery residents and medical students who wish to incorporate visits to Zhejiang medical school and the Fourth Affiliated Hospital as part of their programs.
This was the first visit from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology (OB/GYN) to Zhejiang, led by department chair Radha Chari. Both universities will be working on identifying key research areas in OB/GYN to develop collaborations, and have planned new meetings and visits in the near future to better get to know each other's programs and institutions for maternal and children's health.
"The Fourth Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang University has become one of our major health-care and training partners in China in the last six or seven years," said Renny Khan, Director of International Programs in the FoMD. "We now have more departments than ever involved in this collaboration and we have opportunities that we didn't foresee a year or even two years ago. It's growing really fast."
During this time, Zhejiang University celebrated the official launch of the Yiwu General Practitioner's Ability Enhancement Training Project, with a first cohort of 17 trainees. The Yiwu General Practitioner Training Center was unveiled at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital in April 2018 along with the announcement of the general practitioner training program, designed in collaboration with the FoMD's Department of Family Medicine.
Lee Green, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, speaks at the inauguration of the General Practitioner Program. (Photo from Health Yiwu)
Over the past two years, Zhejiang University has developed stronger bonds with the U of A and conferred the title of honorary professor to FoMD's Lee Green (family medicine), Ray Rajotte (surgery), Gina Rayat (surgery) and Jonathan Choy (cardiology). Future plans for this partnership include potential international faculty development initiatives for both universities.
According to Khan, the expansion of this collaboration to different medical areas is paving the way for more training opportunities for Canadian students and faculty, and facilitating exposure to different health systems.
"These are exciting projects that help highlight the University of Alberta's reputation among top medical schools and funding agencies, in Canada and internationally," said Khan. "Zhejiang University and the Fourth Hospital in Yiwu in particular have been outstanding partners, they have provided generous support to cement this relationship and take it to the next level."