On December 18th,the signing ceremony of academic cooperation memorandum and the first medicalresearch seminar between NJUCM and University of Fribourg in Switzerland washeld online. The event was co-chaired by Professor Zhang Xu, Director ofInternational Cooperation and Exchanges Office and Dean of InternationalEducation College, and Marielle de Dardel, Director of International Office ofthe University of Fribourg.
The presidents of both universities singeingthe MOU online
On December 8,2019, Professor Bernard Ries, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Fribourg,led a delegation to visit NJUCM, which initiated the cooperation between thetwo universities. In March 2020, during the period of the outbreak of COVID-19,Professor Pierre-Yves RODONDI, from Family Medicine Centre at the university ofFribourg purchased 10,000 surgical masks, and donated to our universityaffiliated hospital frontline staff on behalf of the university of Fribourg,which played a positive role to alleviate then the state of the epidemicprevention material tension, deepened the friendship between the two sides, andlaid a good foundation of mutual cooperation.
On the ceremony,the representatives of both sides witnessed the signing of the Memorandum ofUnderstanding on Academic Cooperation between Prof. Hu Gang, President ofNanjing University of Chinese Medicine, and Prof. Astrid Espiney, President ofUniversity of Fribourg. The MOU signing is not only the integration of culturalexperience of traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine diagnosis andtreatment technology into Fribourg medical master degree program, and also thefirst to officially include TCM theory and clinical skills into the teaching ofwestern medical system, which serves as a benchmark that the two universitieswill jointly embark on the cooperation in students cultivation, facultyexchanges and scientific research.
Subsequently, thetwo universities held the first medical research seminar. Professor ShiSuofang, Director of the Respiratory Department of the Affiliated Hospital of NJUCM,Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and ProfessorRodondi's team from the University of Friburg discussed the use and principleof Chinese medicine formula for alleviating the severe symptoms of COVID-19,the clinical efficacy of Jinhua Qinggan Granules and Lianhua Qingwen Capsules,and the current research of relevant papers.
The online seminar at both universities
Vice PresidentProfessor Sun Zhiguang commented in the conclusion that this signing is ahistorical witness of the cooperation between Chinese and Western medicine, abeneficial exploration of the integration of Eastern and Western medicine, andan upgrade version of the close cooperation between the two universities. Theacademic discussion fully demonstrated the contribution of the Chinese solutionto the new global epidemic, and the further medical cooperation between the twosides will contribute the wisdom and strength of TCM to the building of acommunity with a shared future for mankind.