Meet the first Chinese students and faculty adviser to be part of the historic Asia Pacific Rim Development Program era in Nebraska. The students will spend three months at UNMC, while their adviser stays for four months.
Hongmei Tang (Mei), M.D.
Dr. Tang is the deputy Dean of academic affairs at Shanghai Jiaotong University Medical School (SJUMS) in Shanghai, China. After obtaining a master’s degree in preventive medicine, she was appointed to her current position in May 2004. She also has served as director of curriculum at SJUMS. She was trained as a neurologist and was chief resident in neurology at Shanghai Number 6 Hospital – an SJUMS-affiliated institution. Dr. Tang has received various honors and awards, including an appointment to the Medical Education Administration Committee of Shanghai Medical Academy in 2003. Her goals for her four-month stay at UNMC are to study the College of Medicine and College of Nursing organizational structures, learn the curriculum planning stages and all related procedures, observe administration functions for the medical and graduate education system and audit classrooms to learn more about educational methods. She is married with one son, Kevin, 10.
“I am SJUMS’s key adviser on the eight-year medical school system used by the United States,” she said. “I needed to come to UNMC and experience myself what China’s students will experience when we send them here. The exchange to UNMC will be a very beneficial clinical experience for our students. It is a great honor for the students selected to be here.”
Xizhe Ding (Sherrie)
Ding is currently in her fourth year of medical studies at Shanghai Jiaotong University Medical School, with a major in anesthesiology. She is in the new eight-year program. Ding has recently completed a one-year rotation at Shanghai Ruijing Hospital. Her goals while at UNMC are to familiarize herself with English medical terms, get accustomed to the American study style and solidify the basic medical knowledge that she’s learned at SJUMS, while absorbing new concepts and ideas that are characteristic of the United States. During her three-month rotation, she would like to become friends with the American medical students as communication with other students will be the initial step to future medical information interchanges. Xizhe is confident her rotations at UNMC will make her more competent in her medical career.
“I think this is a good opportunity,” she said. “In Shanghai, we now have many foreign patients, especially at the larger medical institutions. All of the patients from overseas – whether Japanese, Korean, Indian or whoever – all speak English as a second language and the main language of international exchange. Chinese medical professionals need to strengthen our skills to communicate with these world populations.”
Jiayao Lin (Kelley)
Lin is a senior medical student from Shanghai Jiaotong University Medical School. She is in a seven-year medical program. Starting in 2001, Lin received systematic and comprehensive training in various clinical medicine programs at SJUMS, including anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, immunology, pathology, pharmacology, diagnostics, internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry and Chinese traditional medicine. She began working as a full-time intern in the department of internal medicine, department of surgery, and ward of Shanghai Renji hospital in January 2005. Her work involves the departmental daily operations and enables her to receive hands-on clinical experience under the supervision of medical doctors.
In February 2004, Hong Kong University selected Lin as the visiting scholar for the exchange medical program for clinic medicine. She also received the Outstanding Student Scholarship for the top 5 percent of students. Her other honors and rewards include second place for Best Scientific Presentation of Associated Research in 2004 and the Golden Prize for Federal Medical Education Scholarship of the United Laboratories in 2002.
Lin said her visit to UNMC is an opportunity to build a solid foundation for her future studies. Her interests include the areas of neurology, cardiology, neonatology and obstetrics. She also is interested in solid organ transplantation and hopes to be involved in all phases of the transplantation procedure, both donor and recipient operations and pre- and post-operative management.
“I have already finished three years of medical school in China. But America is the most developed country in the world and its medicine is most advanced. So I can learn a great deal from my opportunity here at UNMC. I have not chosen a specialty yet and during my visit here I will get to experience a number of clinical specialties. I believe this will help me finally decide on a specialty.”
Hai Zheng (Michael)
Zheng majored in power mechanical engineering at Shanghai Jiaotong University and received his bachelor’s degree in 2002. After graduating from SJTU, he was accepted into the eight-year medical doctor program at Shanghai Jiaotong University Medical School. Zheng has learned all basic medical science and clinical medical science curricula and has just finished his first-year rotation as an intern in nearly all the departments at Ruijin Hospital. Zheng hopes to attend rounds, didactic conferences, case discussions and clinics and surgeries at UNMC. He also wants to attend various classes with College of Medicine students, observe lectures by professors and work in the lab as a research assistant.
“America is a country that enjoys a very high level of technology and medicine,” Zheng said. “I was very excited to be chosen because this is a priceless opportunity to learn from Americans. Also, I want to promote collaboration by the exchange program