UNMC achieved another milestone in its ongoing efforts to bring family medicine to China as a delegation of UNMC officials participated in the 10th Shanghai Sino-U.S. Family Medicine Forum on Oct. 18-19 in Shanghai.
The forum brought together family medicine and primary care physicians in China with several faculty members from the UNMC Department of Family Medicine and the College of Medicine. Several faculty from McGill University in Montreal also participated.
“The Chinese physicians have made a ton of progress,” said Jeff Harrison, M.D., professor and vice chair of family medicine. “They know what we’re talking about. In 2008, when the family medicine team first went to China, the Chinese had no concept of what we were talking about.”
Dr. Harrison praised Jialin Zheng, M.D., dean of the Tongji University School of Medicine, for being “the driver in bringing family medicine to Shanghai.”
Prior to becoming dean in 2016, Dr. Zheng worked at UNMC as director of the Asia Pacific Rim Development Program (APRDP).
“Jialin has been hugely involved,” Dr. Harrison said. “He has developed a primary care-based medical school. There is more faculty development going on. They’re doing all the right stuff. He wants us to show them how we teach family medicine and how they can implement it.”
UNMC College of Medicine Dean Bradley Britigan, M.D., was one of the speakers at the opening ceremony. He discussed how UNMC is committed to training the physicians of tomorrow.
Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC’s chancellor emeritus, was a special guest at the events in China last month. Dr. Maurer, who served as chancellor from 1999 to 2014, was instrumental in UNMC becoming active with several Chinese universities.
In addition to Drs. Harrison and Britigan, other UNMC faculty participating in the family medicine forum were:
- Michael Sitorius, M.D., professor and chair, family medicine;
- Kimberly Jarzynka, M.D., associate professor; family medicine;
- Jennifer Liu, M.D., assistant professor, family medicine;
- Jessica Koran-Scholl, Ph.D., associate professor and director of behavioral health, family medicine; and
- Keith Swarts, special assistant for international programs.
Zenghan (Hannah) Tong, Ph.D., associate director of APRDP, also played a key role in coordinating activities for the UNMC delegation in China.
Dr. Harrison, who has been to China 14 times over the past 11 years, said development of faculty at Tongji University School of Medicine will be the future focus of UNMC’s family medicine program.
Approximately 15 physicians affiliated with Tongji’s community clinics will be coming to UNMC the first two weeks of June, Dr. Harrison said.
“These will be younger, mid-career practicing physicians, who are ready to take the next step in being trained in family medicine,” he said.
View previous story from 2014 when UNMC celebrated its 10th anniversary in China.