New Collaboration to Strengthen Clinical and Translational Research in China

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, Johns Hopkins Medicine's international reach is growing rapidly. Over the past two weeks we have celebrated the expansion of our presence in Latin America through collaborations with our esteemed colleagues in Peru and Colombia. Today, we're pleased to announce even more exciting news from afar - The Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine International have signed a landmark collaboration agreement with Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) of Guangzhou, one of China's leading academic medical centers.

China's health care sector and biomedical research field are growing at an astonishing rate. We are excited to be the first academic medical center in the United States to form a research collaboration in China that incorporates all the hallmarks of a mature clinical and translational research enterprise, including infrastructure, training and grants. We hail this new relationship as an important extension of Johns Hopkins Medicine's global mission and vision, and as a breakthrough that allows us to make research a major component of an institutional collaboration.

This new endeavor represents a milestone in our drive to set the standard of excellence in health care delivery worldwide and offers us a rare window into a Chinese academic medical center, and an incredible opportunity to assist that nation in shaping its clinical and translational research infrastructure.

This undertaking also will offer truly unique opportunities for our faculty, including:

• Developing and teaching education and training programs for clinical investigators and research professionals
• Consulting opportunities in research infrastructure, operations, safety and governance
• Establishing competitive visiting fellowship program for promising SYSU investigators and junior faculty
• Seed grants for clinical and translational pilot projects that have the potential to develop into larger studies funded by industry or government sources in China and the U.S.
• A research and population base that will allow faculty to learn more about conditions that are less prevalent in North America

As always, our goal is the advancement of medical science, education and patient care in every country, on every continent. In China, just as in Peru, Colombia, and every other nation, we seek to share our expertise in the discovery and application of the latest research advances to make a difference in people's lives.

Please join me in celebrating this important milestone for our organization and in congratulating our colleagues at Johns Hopkins Medicine International for making it possible.

Sincerely,
Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Daniel Ford, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor
Vice Dean for Clinical Investigation
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine