Concerning about the operation of Shanghai - Ottawa Joint  School of Medicine and its International Family Medicine Clinic

July 11, Deputy Minister of International Trade of Canada Ms. Christine Hogan, Canadian Consul General in Shanghai Mr. Weldon EPP and his party five people visited our hospital, accompanied by Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Yiqun Hu, and Dean of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine Jacques Bradwejn. Dean Weiping Li, Party Secretary Lian Guo, Vice President Daxiang Wen, and Executive Dean of Shanghai - Ottawa Joint Medical School Li Shao, jointly accompanied the reception.

First, Vice President Yiqun Hu extended a warm welcome to Ms. Christine Hogan on behalf of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and Renji Hospital, and expressed heartfelt thanks for her great attention and support to the Joint School of Medicine Program. Vice President Hu mentioned that, Canada has a long history of cooperation with China, achieving remarkable success in the fields of bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, technology, energy, education and so on. Cooperation between University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine began in 2011, followed by the full support of both governments and in-depth exchanges by two sides. Upon the Sino-Canadian joint medical undergraduate teaching project was approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2014, Shanghai - Ottawa Joint School of Medicine was declared and the project became China's only currently approved medical undergraduate teaching project with Chinese-foreign cooperation. In order to fully guarantee consistent teaching and clinical practice patterns between the Joint School of Medicine and University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, Renji Hospital also built the International Family Doctor Clinic in line with the levels of Canadian teaching hospitals. Family medicine is the future developmental direction of medical education and health services for our country. Therefore, this clinic aims to provide environment for the students’ international medical teaching, meanwhile exploring a demonstrative family doctor clinic model which can extend to other parts of the country. Subsequently, Vice President Daxiang Wen briefly introduced the overview of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and Renji Hospital to the guests. President Jacques Bradwejn introduced the construction background, the promotion situation of the project, the vision and progress of the Sino-Canadian cooperative Family Medicine Teaching in Shanghai - Ottawa Joint School of Medicine, as well as the present situation and plans for the future of University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine’s to cooperate with Shanghai and other western partners of China. Ms. Hogan highly recognized and appreciated the outcome of the Shanghai - Ottawa Joint School of Medicine which has been achieved in such a short period of time. She said that ties of teaching and culture are important basis for economic cooperation. She was pleased to see close cooperation partnerships and bright future between China and Canada in the field of medical education. She then asked the sources of students and training objectives, status of Chinese family medicine, as well as the support proposal that hopes to get from the government level, such as the establishment of a joint Sino-Canadian degree-granting system, joint teaching certification system and etc.

Finally, President Weiping Li and Party Secretary Lian Guo, accompanied the guests to visit the International Family Doctor Clinic of Shanghai - Ottawa Joint School of Medicine. Ms. Hogan asked about the operational status and promotion model of the clinic. Our hospital express the hope to establish closer ties and cooperation with the Consulate General of Canada, to provide better foreign medical services for Canadian patients in China through the platform of the International Family Medicine Clinic.

(Correspondent Me Zhou / Translator Weiwei Zhang)