Representatives of UNMC travelled to the island of Hainan, China, from Oct. 15-17 to continue working on building educational exchange programs and training programs.
The UNMC delegation included H. Dele Davies, M.D., senior vice chancellor of academic affairs, dean of graduate studies; Brad Britigan, M.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine; Jane Meza, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for global engagement; Kai Fu, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Office of International Relations and Patient Referrals at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, and Hannah Tong, Ph.D., associate director of the Asia Pacific Rim Development Program.
Since 2015, faculty members from Hainan Medical University (HNMU) have come to UNMC for three-month stints for training and observations in the College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Public Health and the College of Pharmacy.
Every summer, HNMU sends another group of faculty members, who specialize in teaching English, to Omaha for training. UNMC partners with the ILUNO Intensive English language program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha to lead this one-month intensive learning course. When the HNMU faculty members return to China, they bring back the exceptional teaching skills and interactive teaching techniques they learned at UNMC and UNO to their own classrooms.
The UNMC delegation met with the leaders from the HNMU, who expressed their sincere appreciation to UNMC for these educational exchange programs and the opportunity to improve their skills.
While the delegation was in Hainan, they toured the construction site for the Chaotan Bay International Hospital, scheduled to open in March 2020. The delegation was met by representatives of the Hainan Chinalink/Shuangwei Group to discuss training select hospital managers and administrators at UNMC. The group also discussed further collaborations with UNMC, including diagnostics laboratory services and additional training opportunities.
The delegation, along with Joseph Norman, Ph.D., director of UNMC’s physical therapy education program, Joseph Siu, Ph.D., associate professor of physical therapy, and Bo Han, M.D., Ph.D., senior business development specialist, visited the China Scholarship Council (CSC) in Beijing on Oct. 18. For the past 12 years, the CSC has supported more than 280 students and scholars from across China, enabling them to travel to UNMC for training in health professions, research, and medical education.
The delegation met with Zhixue Dong, director of the division of American and Oceania Affairs, as well as other members within the division. During the meeting, UNMC and CSC affirmed their long-standing collaboration in the education and training of Ph.D. and health profession students. They also discussed ways to build on their successful partnership.