On September 7, fifteen board members and senior management staff of China Medical Board (CMB), including CMB Chair-elect Harvey V. Fineberg, CMB President Roger Glass, and Executive Vice President Dr. Barbara J. Stoll, paid a visit to Yenching Academy, Peking University.
The CMB group was received by PKU Executive Vice President Qiao Jie, YCA Honorary Dean Yuan Ming, YCA Dean Dong Qiang, and YCA Associate Deans Fan Shiming and Brent Haas at Jingyuan Courtyard 4.
Others were invited to the event, including Gorden Liu, Dean of the Institute for Global Health and Development, Peking University; Geng Shu, Deputy Secretary-general of Peking University Education Foundation, and YCA alumni and student representatives from the United States.
Happy to have the CMB group at his academy, Dean Dong Qiang gave a welcoming speech. Since its establishment, Yenching Academy has received strong support and help from within and outside the University. Prof Yuan Ming and the entire faculty have successfully created a distinctive international program for China Studies. And now the Academy boasts a well-established system for fostering new-generation talents who love China and observe the country from international perspectives. The Academy attributes its success to all its staff and faculty like Prof Gordon Liu. Prof Dong has been working with Peking University over the past two decades or so since his return from France. He felt happy and honored to see in person the remarkable achievements the University has made. According to Dong, a top-notch university stands as the best of times and invites high-caliber teachers and students. A university of excellence must be a cradle of world-oriented talents to address complicated issues and uncertainties and build stronger bonds between countries. At the end of his speech, Dean Dong noted that international higher education is facing new challenges and that we need to address new issues in domestic and international education. He highlighted that Yenching Academy attaches special importance to international cooperation and always welcomes support from all around the society. Prof Dong hoped that the Academy and the CMB would have a better understanding of each other and enter into good cooperation.
An eminent figure in China-US exchange, Prof Yuan was happy to meet her old friends on this event. In her eyes, medicine is more than sciences, knowledge and technologies; it is a science about humanity and love. She noted that she-power has been of extraordinary presence and influence in our societies, because women are more sensitive, resilient, and creative. Prof Yuan emphasized the importance of China-US exchanges in educational and cultural sectors. She saw a shared mission of Yenchiang Academy and the China Medical Board to help foster “bridge-builders” who pave the way between China and the world. Prof Yuan was happy to show the CMB group how excellent and unique our Yenching Scholars and their stories of China are.
Dr Harvey V. Fineberg is chair-elect of China Medical Board. He was happy to meet our young YCA Scholars who are full of energy and potential, and he expected an inspiring and rewarding event and future cooperation. An independent American foundation, China Medical Board was founded in 1914 as a program of the Rockefeller Foundation. Its initial commitment was to establish and operate the Peking Union Medical College and the College Hospital in Beijing. CMB’s mission is to advance health, equity, and the quality of care in China and Southeast Asia.
The meeting was hosted by Brent Haas, Associate Dean of Yenching Academy. He introduced the Academy’s Master Program of China Studies, particularly the YCA Scholars and alumni from the United States. Mr Haas noted the Academy’s role as an interdisciplinary platform through which the students from diverse backgrounds, including medical and biological majors, have accomplished medicine-related research and essays that interested them.
YCA alumni and student representatives from the United States, Jacqueline Gu, Zhigongdai Lu, and Piero Guerra extended their warm welcome to the CMB group. They all found it important to establish good international exchange and cooperation in the globalized world. The three have known more and better of young people from other countries, through the study at YCA and the activities at international organizations and exchange programs. They came from different backgrounds, but they met at YCA and acquired wider, global perspectives via the interdisciplinary, intercultural program, fully prepared for promoting global governance system.
At the end of the meeting, YCA and CMB representatives exchanged gifts and took a group photo.
About China Medical Board
An independent American foundation, China Medical Board was founded in 1914 as a program of the Rockefeller Foundation. Its initial commitment was to establish and operate the Peking Union Medical College and the College Hospital in Beijing. CMB’s mission is to advance health, equity, and the quality of care in China and Southeast Asia and to fund research and education concerning medical science, nursing, and public health. CMB is a major player in people-to-people exchange between China and the United States in medical and public health sectors, fostering industry leaders for China and contributing to China’s medical and healthcare development.
Initially a special program for health philanthropy of Rockefeller Foundation in China, China Medical Board was endowed in 1928 as in independent foundation. The withdrew from China’s mainland in 1951, while remaining in medical philanthropy in the other parts in Aisa. At the invitation of Chinese government, CMB returned to China’s mainland in 1981. It has over 20 partners in the mainland of China now. Over its 110 years’ work, CMB has provided nearly two billion dollars of funds and technological support for institutions in China and other countries and regions in Asia. Many presidents and board members of CMB have received the Chinese Government Friendship Awards for their remarkable contribution to China’s medical science and education.
CMB has currently over $300 million in assets, with the principal from the Rockefeller Foundation, and sets aside part of its assets for philanthropy, in accordance with the US tax laws. CMB is headquartered in the United States and has offices in Beijing and Bangkok. CMB Council works out the organization’s strategic directions and invites eminent figures in medical, philanthropy and investment sectors from China and the United States. CMB has a professional team of project and management and invites senior experts for project-based suggestions and support. CMB Beijing Office is registered with Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and under supervision of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China.
