Leicester builds Bridge for British-Chinese Biomedical Education

A ground breaking initiative to promote collaboration between China and the United Kingdom was launched by the University of Leicester during a conference providing scientists from Leicester and China opportunities to share recent advances in Genetics in Biomedical research – from understanding the mechanisms of human diseases to drug discovery and novel clinical therapies.

The conference, held on February 20 -24 also provide networking opportunities and is expected to have resulted in collaborative partnerships that will underpin future industry-academia interactions between both countries in the Biomedical sector.

Project coordinator Dr Yan Huang will develop continuing professional development (CPD) courses for the Chinese biomedical sector at the University of Leicester. Recently Dr Huang won a University of Leicester Prospect Fund award to kick-start this project. She says: “A key factor in being awarded this money was my unique background, which allows me to understand the Biomedical education in both countries.”

Dr Huang, who has degrees from Tianjin Medical University in China and a PhD from Leicester, has researched the market in China and believes the demand is there. The Chinese government is keen not only to encourage clinical doctors to undertake research but also to improve the quality of treatment for patients. At the same time, Chinese Biomedical students are anxious to study and work abroad and both short and longer courses are being developed at the university.

“The hope is to facilitate scientific collaborations that attract funding to the university and to provide a route through which high quality Chinese PhD students can be recruited,” said Dr Huang.