“2011 China-American Symposium on Clinical and Translational Medicine” was held at the Shanghai International Convention Center from June 24 to 26, 2011. This symposium was hosted by Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS), Clinical Research Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as GlobalMD jointly, who aim to establish a platform for international cooperation and exchanges in the fields of clinical and translational medicine between the two countries by hosting this symposium, building it into a brand symposium of the highest level, exerting the most scientific influence, thus leading the cutting-edge medical researches for the medical communities in both China and the U.S.

The symposium lasted for two and a half days, which set up three major reports sections, 14 sub-symposiums on specialized topics, two satellite meetings and one summit forum, all centered upon 5 different core themes of the symposium. Mr. Sang Guowei, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Mr. Zhou Ji, President of CAE, Mr. Chen Zhu, China’s Minister of Health, Mr. Zhang Jianguo, Director of the State Bureau of Foreign Experts Administration, Mr. Shen Xiaoming, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, attended the symposium, which was also attended by a total of 500 research experts in basic and clinical medicine, entrepreneurs and administrative personnel. Among all the attendees, 110 Chinese and foreign experts either gave lectures upon invitation for all the participants, or made presentations in sub-symposiums, or presided over these sections. Among all the foreign experts present, 7 are top-level experts in the US in the field of translational medicine, and more than 20 Chinese participants present are either CAE or CAS Members. 

This symposium enjoyed support from Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the State Bureau of Foreign Experts Administration, Ministry of Health, as well as Ministry of Science and Technology. Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng and Mayor Han Zheng met with Vice Chairman Sang Guowei, CAE President Zhou Ji, Director Zhang Jianguo, also CAE Vice President Fan Daiming, among other leaders and academicians on June 23, 2011. Also, Yu and Zhou carried out in-depth exchanges on how to further promote collaboration between the Academy and local governments & enterprises. 

On the morning of June 24, CAE Vice President Fan Daiming presided over the opening ceremony, in which Vice Chairman Sang Guowei, Minister Chen Zhu, Vice Mayor Shen Xiaoming and four foreign experts made presentations upon invitation, after speeches delivered by Zhou Ji, Zhang Jianguo, and Shen Xiaoming etc. 

On the afternoon of June 24, CAE Member Yang Shengli and CAE Vice President Fan Daiming, presided over “Summit Forum on Translational Medicine”, the first and second half of which was dedicated to discussion among Chinese experts, and discussion among both Chinese and foreign experts respectively. Participants of the forum enjoyed lively and heated discussion regarding issues like how to set the development direction and goal for researches in the field of translational medicine in the coming 10-20 years, how to break the bottleneck of translational medicine, how to effectively enhance international cooperation and promote the development of medicine, etc. The forum will play a positive role in reaching consensus and promoting cooperation between China and foreign countries in the field of translational medicine in the future. The forum also demonstrated, at a higher level, from a higher perspective, the objective for development of translational medicine in China. 

“2011 China-American Symposium on Clinical and Translational Medicine” drew a close on June 26, and receive positive feedback coming from participating experts, home and abroad. The American side believes that this symposium has moved from a mere exchange of ideas to a substantive discussion, and the sub-symposiums specialized in different research areas centered upon the core themes have demonstrated the advantages and strengths of China in researches in translational medicine. The two sides agreed to hold the third symposium of its kind still in Shanghai in next March, and will include Chinese traditional medicine, something of unique Chinese characteristics, into the focused topics for discussion then. Both sides also expressed their hope to better organize sub-forum discussion, satellite discussion, as well as field study at that time, propelling China-US cooperation to be truly pragmatic. 

The US side promised that they would make the achievements of this symposium known by including related articles, summarizing the major content and results of it or predicting the future prospects of translational medicine, in either “Nature” or “Science”. Chinese experts think that, since researches in translational medicine have just started, we have to stick to the “going out” and “bringing in” policies. The fact that CAE, as the top honorary and advisory organization in China, hosted the China-American Symposium on Clinical and Translational Medicine, would surely contribute to the promotion of the development in translational medicine in China in the future, thus further propelling and improving the health care reform in China, as well as improving people’s health standards. Experts also suggested that a major consulting project should be launched, concerning strategic studies into translational medicine in China, thus benefiting people with translational medicine related knowledge in the real sense. 

Symposium organizers also offered inspection and exchange tours for foreign participants of the symposium to the Ninth Hospital and Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University. (By Li Dongmei and Li Xiangtai, July 2011; translated by Liu Chang)