UNMC in China — Beijing office opens, Chancellor receives rare honor

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a three-part series about recent UNMC developments in China. Tomorrow UNMC Today will feature a story about lymphoma activities in Tianjin.)

The medical center now has a home in the heart of the Chinese scientific community with the recent opening of a UNMC office at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing.

From Beijing and Shanghai The slideshow above features images from recent UNMC-related activities in Beijing and Shanghai. Double click on the images to see more information.

Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., opened the office at ceremony in Beijing that was attended by several Chinese officials including Le Kang, Ph.D., professor and president of the Beijing Life Science Institutes of CAS.

“Our partnerships and collaborations with Chinese institutions, students and faculty are major points of pride for us at UNMC,” Dr. Maurer said. “This office provides us a base of operations to enhance and increase such ventures.

“We are excited by the possibilities that exist because of our work with our Chinese partners and we are thrilled to have a home in Beijing.”

China notebook Below are other recent UNMC-related developments from Beijing and Shanghai: Dr. Maurer received an honorary professorship from the CAS. Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had previously received the honor. Dr. Maurer chaired and presented at the third International Conference on World Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Dr. Maurer and UNMC’s Jialin Zheng, M.D., Jason Zhang, Ph.D., and Wei Wang, M.D., Ph.D., spoke at the 2009 Suzhou International Clinic Forum at Suzhou University. More than 300 health care professionals attended the forum. Dr. Maurer was a keynote speaker.

The office will help UNMC:

• Raise its profile in China;
  
• Recruit top Chinese students and faculty to participate in collaborations and joint programs; and
  
• Support UNMC faculty and students who work and study in China as well as other aspects of the medical center’s Chinese collaborations.

Dr. Maurer expressed gratitude to the CAS — the Chinese equivalent of the U.S. Academy of Sciences — for UNMC’s space on its campus.

“We are literally situated on the ‘Main Street’ of scientific scholarship in China,” he said.

UNMC is one of just a few U.S. universities to have such an office in Beijing. It also is the first University of Nebraska campus to have a Chinese office.