China, US see a more promising future for medical collaboration

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The United States and China will have a closer collaboration on medical research, as it has been proven in the past 35 years, despite different medical cultures, Dr. Barry Kramer, director of the Division of Cancer Prevention under the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), told CGTN Digital.

Dr. Kramer made the remarks as he attended the sixth Academic Conference of the China National Cancer Center in Beijing, which coincided with the commemorative conference of the 60th anniversary of the Cancer Hospital under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS).

Dr. Barry Kramer, director of the Division of Cancer Prevention under the NCI. /NCC Photo

Talking about his sixth visit to China, Dr. Kramer was deeply impressed by the sea changes he had witnessed. He said he never thought the medical collaboration on cancer research could develop from discussion into reality in just six years when the two institutes signed the agreement.

Kramer sees Sino-US medical collaboration as "critically important." He is happy to cooperate with Chinese scholars, and regards the cooperation with Dr. He Jie, director of the China National Cancer Center (NCC), as a milestone he's proud of in his career.

The pair met each other in March 2012, and Dr. Kramer has been working with Chinese counterparts often since then.

Dr. He Jie, director of the NCC /NCC Photo

"What always impresses me are the people,” Dr. Kramer told CGTN Digital. "I've learned how knowledgeable they are, how dedicated they are, and how easy it was for us to develop work with Chinese colleagues.”

Dr. He, also president of the Cancer Hospital under CAMS, echoed Dr. Kramer's idea, saying that the cooperation between the hospital and the NCI that dated back to the early 1980s was among the first China-US collaboration in healthcare after China's reform and opening-up, which opened a new chapter and laid a solid foundation for China's cancer research.

China and the US share a long history of research collaboration, and are the top two investors in research and development. Both the experts look forward to a closer collaboration in the future.

(Top image via VCG)