The Medical School will establish a joint institute with the Peking University Health Science Center in a unique effort to promote research that can lead to breakthroughs in pulmonary, cardiovascular and liver diseases.
The joint institute will feature collaborative research efforts, exchanges of faculty, medical residents, fellows and other researchers, and completion of large-scale clinical trials.
“Our Medical School mission is clear. We are dedicated to education and research for the people of the state of Michigan and beyond,” says Dr. Joseph Kolars, senior associate dean for education and global initiatives.
“This is evidence of the University of Michigan Medical School’s intention to have a global impact on the way physicians are trained, and to be leaders in cutting-edge research that can solve the medical problems of our world.”
The joint institute will be launched Tuesday in an opening ceremony at the Biomedical Sciences Research Building on the Medical School campus. Leadership from both universities will sign the agreement during a reception that begins at 1:30 p.m. The first joint symposium will be held to facilitate the discussion on the joint research projects.
The joint institute will focus on research into pulmonary, cardiovascular and liver diseases, all areas of mutual interest at U-M and Peking University. The institute will involve faculty at both institutions collaborating on projects on an equal basis — not just sharing data.
The institute will provide infrastructures to optimize the mechanism to support joint projects, including human subjects protection, tissue repositories and biomedical informatics, as well as research on science of collaboration.
Both the Medical School and Peking University Health Science Center have committed to provide $7 million each to fund the initiative.
“We hope this joint institute will be internationally recognized as an exemplary way to conduct collaborative international research,” Kolars says.
Kolars says U-M already has 19 Medical School departments collaborating with 31 Chinese universities including a joint laboratory. In the U-M Health System (UMHS), there are 1,080 employees holding Chinese citizenship.
“Being positioned globally is key to meeting our mission. It is critical to developing innovative health and education models and being at the forefront of research. To continue to enhance our presence as a global medical school, we have to collaborate with China,” says Dr. James Woolliscroft, dean of the Medical School and Lyle C. Roll Professor of Medicine.
Because of its size, Peking University also offers a tremendous chance to gather patient data. The Peking health centers have 6,688 beds, compared to U-M Health System’s 930. On a daily basis, Peking has 32,431 outpatient visits; U-M has 6,411. Peking has 1,810 emergency room visits daily compared to 319 at U-M.
“In this ever-shrinking world, we want to work together to create the future of medicine for our global community,” says Dr. Ora Pescovitz, executive vice president of medical affairs and chief executive officer of UMHS.
Pescovitz will serve on the joint institute’s executive board along with Kolars, Woolliscroft, Vice President for Research Steve Forrest and Senior Associate Dean for Research for the Medical School Steve Kunkel.
