On July 10, the Inauguration Ceremony for the new integrated Department of Digestive Diseases, School of Medicine, Xiamen University and the Summit Forum of Gastroenterology of "New Medicine" were successfully held in the Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital, which marks that the school's comprehensive reform has achieved a new progress in its medical field, the reform of integrating medicine-related departments has made a substantial headway, and the interdisciplinary integration and collaboration of multiple clinical medical disciplines in the School of Medicine have stepped into a new era.
At the inaugural ceremony, guests from different organizations delivered speeches including Prof. Wang Yiqing from Xiamen Municipal Health Commission, Prof. Fang Jingyuan from Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, Prof. Jin Zhendong from Chinese Society of Digestive Endoscopy, Prof. Zhou Dawang , Vice President of Xiamen University, Prof. Han Jiahuai, Dean of School of Medicine, Prof. Cai Jianchun from XMU Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital. They all expressed their congratulations and high expectation on the establishment of the Department of Digestive Diseases. Mr. Zhang Jian'an from School of Medicine officially announced the establishment of the new department. Prof. Niu Jianjun and other colleagues from the Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital also participated in the event.
Prof. Zhou Dawang, Vice President of Xiamen University, pointed out that the university sets great store by the development of medical science and explicitly recognizes it as a new growth point of disciplinary development. The university will continuously increase investment in the School of Medicine and affiliated hospitals to support the development of clinical medicine. The establishment of the new department effectively integrates the resources of the university and the affiliated hospitals, which will conduce to the construction of "Double First-Class" disciplines, further extend the renown of XMU's Gastroenterology and represent a significant step for the "New Medicine" strategy of Xiamen University.
Prof. Han Jiahuai noted in his speech that the affiliated hospitals are part of the big XMU family and vital to medical science. Last year, XMU Medical School was accredited by the Ministry of Education as the first-discipline institution to offer doctoral and postdoctoral programs in Clinical Medicine, thus ushering in a new phase for the former. The purpose of setting up clinical faculties and departments is to promote integration among the university and affiliated hospitals to highlight XMU’s specialties and strengths. Prof. Han expressed his hope that the new department would take the lead to tackle challenges in a practical manner and team up to cut across disciplines to achieve deeper disciplinary fusion.
Prof. Ren Jianlin, Head of the Department of Digestive Diseases, Deputy Director of the Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital introduced the background, characteristic and blueprint of the department. He indicated that the new department would comply with the "Double First-Class" standard and new requirements for medicine, and work towards the goal to vault into China's top tier where closer connection between medical education and discipline construction shall be formed, deeper integration of basic medicine and clinical medicine promoted, stronger mutual support between medicine and life sciences enhanced.
After the ceremony, the Summit Forum of Gastroenterology in "New Medicine" and Round Table Conference on Construction of Faculty of Gastroenterology were held to explore the development path to strive for deeper integration among various disciplines and Double First-Class standard against the backdrop of new medicine of today. The experts and scholars from different colleges and affiliated hospitals of Xiamen University jointly witnessed the establishment of the new department and looked forward to working together to be of service to the Healthy China Initiative.
Source: School of Medicine
