The Conference on High-level Hospital Development (ICHD 2022), co-organized by the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (FAH-SYSU) in Guangzhou, and the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), a world-class academic medical center that is a founding member of Mass General Brigham and a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School (HMS),  was held from June 17 to 19.

ICHD 2022 takes place in both online and offline venues from June 17 to 19. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The conference aimed to facilitate the improvement of academic medical centers towards the goal of high-quality development in clinical services, scientific innovation, and medical education. It focused on pressing and challenging topics related to global hospitals' high-quality development, with a wide range of themes covering hospital strategic development, discipline construction, medical education innovation, talent cultivation, translational medicine, as well as precision medicine. It was composed of keynote speeches, the main forum, FAH-BWH academic development sessions, China-Europe sessions, and China-Singapore sessions.

Nearly 500 people attend the ICHD 2022 on-site. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Speakers and participants of this conference included leaders and famous specialists from 10 world-renowned medical institutions, such as HMS, BWH, the University of Birmingham (UoB), the University of Manchester (UoM), Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU), the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), as well as from 14 domestic pilot public hospitals for high-quality development.

Huang Jiefu, chairman of the China Organ and Transplantation Committee, emphasized in his opening speech that the timing and international environment of this conference were very significant.

"The pandemic has exerted a great impact on the medical systems and social order of countries around the world. The normal order of the pre-COVID-19-pandemic era has gone off track and medical systems are facing huge challenges," he said.

"Luckily, at the same time, a large amount of clinical research has advanced the frontier of medicine, bringing new breakthroughs in clinical therapies, as well as scientific and technological innovation. It has also posed new challenges to hospital management. International counterparts need to work together for the innovative development of human health."

A group of experts at home and abroad attend the conference online. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Xiao Haipeng, executive vice president of SYSU and president of FAH-SYSU, gave a presentation entitled "High-quality Academic Development: Tradition and Innovation" at the main forum of the conference. He put forward four key elements of high-quality development, in which talent is the core, innovation is the driving force, the system is the guarantee, and success depends on culture.

He also elaborated on the unique "6+1" quality for a high-quality national medical center. The "6" means that it is a center for complicated and critical diseases, as well as plays a key role in response to disasters and public health emergencies. It is also a center for science and technology innovation in medicine, as well as a center for cultivation of leaders in clinical medicine, education, and research. It is also a center for international collaborations and exchanges, as well as a center for innovation in modern hospital management and a center for excellent hospital culture. The "1" refers to the center's ability to lead and facilitate medical development, as well as provide first-class medical services.

FAH-SYSU has been working with BWH in cooperation of academic development in a long-term manner. Peer-to-peer collaboration and exchange have taken place across multiple collaborative disciplines, and clinical experts from BWH who are also Harvard Medical School faculty have been involved. Disciplines are combining their respective strengths for win-win cooperation, so as to promote the advancement of healthcare delivery, education and research at FAH-SYSU and improve the health and wellness for people across China.

At the FAH-BWH sessions, experts from both sides, such as Kuang Ming, vice president of FAH-SYSU and dean of the Zhongshan School of Medicine, Zhang Nu, vice president of FAH-SYSU, as well as BWH's Dr. Simon Helfgott and Dr. Duane Wesemann had in-depth discussions on cutting-edge training in surgical oncology, academic development, and the balance between clinical work, teaching, and research.