2012-06-05

On 26 and 27 May 2012 Shantou University hosted the sixth annual conference of the prestigious East-West Alliance (EWA). The two-day international conference saw over 150 global academic leaders and senior education officials gather in Shantou to exchange views on "Trends and Actions of Clinical Medical Educational Reform".

Director of the Li Ka Shing Foundation, Solina Chau, together with senior officers from the Chinese Ministry of Education, the National Medical Examination Center, and the Guangdong Education Department participated in the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Prof. Gu Peihua, Provost of Shantou University, delivered the opening addresses on behalf of Shantou University, while Prof. Jiang Gu, Dean of SUMC, chaired the opening ceremony.

Participants included senior academic leaders and medical education experts from all EWA members, presently comprising Oxford University, Cambridge University, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Alberta, University of Manitoba, University of Toronto St. Michael Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Shantou University. Several non-member universities were also represented throughout the two-day conference, including State University of New York, University of Colorado, University of Melbourne, Fudan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Sichuan University.

The numerous presentations, discussions and workshops during the intensive two-day program covered a broad range of topics including innovations and reform in medical education, academic quality of clinical skills and residency training programs, evaluation of medical student performance, competence-oriented clinical education, and the future of medical education and healthcare.

The East-West Alliance is an international alliance consisting of several medical colleges and research institutions supported by the Li Ka Shing Foundation. Previous meeting were hosted by the University of Hong Kong, Cambridge University, Stanford University, and University of Manitoba. The next EWA conference is scheduled to be held in Shantou in 2013.

Click here for more information about the East-West Alliance 2012 annual conference.