UNMC in China – UNMC, Xi’an med school form family medicine center

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the last story in a three-part series about recent UNMC developments in China. Previous stories focused on UNMC’s new Beijing office and a Tianjin lymphoma center.)

UNMC and Xi’an Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (XJTUSM) recently agreed to establish a one-of-a-kind training center for family practice physicians in China.

The “Sino-U.S. Training Center for General Practitioners” is the fruit of more than two years of work between the two institutions.

It provides a framework for further cooperation and will help each university understand and improve family medicine in their respective countries.

UNMC’s Mike Sitorius, M.D., and Don Leuenberger, second and third from right, meet with staff at a community hospital in China. As such health centers become more prominent in China, so does the need for more family practice physicians. UNMC and Xi’an Jiao Tong University School of Medicine recently formed a center to help train more family practice physicians.

“We are thrilled to be part of this unique partnership with Xi’an Jiao Tong University and to help meet the call for more family medicine practitioners in China,” said Mike Sitorius, M.D., chairman of the family medicine department. “It’s exciting for UNMC to assist the Chinese medical community as it addresses this pressing health need.”

China is in the midst of a health care reform movement. Historically, Chinese medical education has primarily focused on preparation of physician specialists. The Chinese system has had no family medicine specialty and residence programs.

A primary goal of China’s health care reform, however, is to improve access to medical care at the community hospital level, which will require more family practice physicians.

Xi’an is in midwestern China and is an important center of science and education. As one of the only major cities in the region, it also is a major hub of medical care.

China notebook Below are other recent UNMC-related developments from China: Leuenberger received a visiting professorship from Xian Jiao Tong University Health Science Center; Vice Chancellor for Research Tom Rosenquist, Ph.D., received a visiting professorship from the Beijing Life Science Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Dr. Rosenquist, Leuenberger and others from UNMC attended the Chinese Scholarship Council annual meeting in Beijing. Forty-nine Chinese universities and 10 U.S. universities — including Yale and Harvard — attended the meeting.

As per the agreement, UNMC’s family medicine department will train XJTUSM faculty and help the Chinese university develop curriculum to educate Chinese-adapted family medicine practitioners.

The agreement also establishes plans for a faculty and student exchange program.

Last year, three UNMC family medicine faculty members presented a short course in rural, public and family medicine in Xi’an. Earlier this month, the first of two XJTUSM faculty members to train at UNMC arrived in Omaha; others may follow.