On the morning of October 10th, President Jacques Frémont, Vice President Dr. Mona Nemer and Dean of Faculty of Medicine Dr. Jacques Bradwejn from University of Ottawa, Canada led delegation to visit our hospital. Dean Weiping Li, Vice President Daxiang Wen, Director of Dean’s Office Jie Zhuang, and Vice President of Renji Clinical Medical College Qing Zheng cordially received the guests.

First of all, President Weiping Li extended warm welcome to the visiting guests of University of Ottawa and expressed his sincere gratitude to the leaders of University of Ottawa and Faculty of Medicine for their great support to the Shanghai-Ottawa Joint School of Medicine. He noted that Shanghai is accelerating the construction of an international economic, financial, trade, shipping center and a modern socialist international metropolis, as well as scientific and technological innovation center with global influence. The Shanghai municipal government issued a series of new corresponding policy to attract overseas talents. Renji Hospital with a hundred years history, will closely follow Shanghai’s city orientation, and fully grasp the city's rapid development opportunity to make a difference in the internationalized construction of the hospital. At present, the cooperation between China and Canada from the government to the private sector has risen to a new stage. With the aid of the international platform of Shanghai-Ottawa Joint School of Medicine, the hospital hopes to further enhance the quality of teaching and promote international cooperation in scientific research, new clinical technology and management, so that further integrate with North American medical institutions through the exchange in the field of teaching. Our hospital warmly welcomes professors and experts from University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine to participate in the teaching and scientific research teams of Renji hospital meanwhile teaching in the Joint School of Medicine to make the cooperation between the two sides closer and deeper.

Subsequently, the Deputy Director of Dean’s Office Mi Zhou delivered a briefing to the guests on the basic situation of the hospital and the progress of the Shanghai-Ottawa Joint School of Medicine, including teacher training, student exchange, platform construction and others. President Frémont and Vice President Nemer expressed great appreciation for the scale and operational efficiency of our hospital and expressed strong support for our concept and input of international talent cultivation. The guests also unanimously expressed their admiration for the achievements in the Joint School of Medicine in such a short period of time.

President Frémont said that this was his first visit to Shanghai since he took office as president of University of Ottawa in July this year. Internationalization is one of the key strategies of University of Ottawa, as we live in a globalized world in which the globalization of higher education is a very important component. International exchanges allow us to fully learn from each other. He was very excited to see that University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine has established so close and solid cooperation with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. He will continue to support the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine’s investment to the Joint School of Medicine project. The two sides also discussed and reached a preliminary consensus on the exploration to establish bachelor - doctoral joint degree for students in Joint School of Medicine. The two Presidents also said that University of Ottawa will warmly welcome Renji Hospital's medical care, research and management personnel to pursue further studies in University of Ottawa.

Finally, Vice President Daxiang Wen accompanied the guests to visit the Outpatient Clinic, Digestive Endoscopy Center, Children's Liver Transplantation Ward, International Family Medicine Clinic of Shanghai-Ottawa Joint School of Medicine and other regions.

(Correspondent Mi Zhou / Translator Weiwei Zhang)