By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

An inauguration ceremony to mark the opening of the Tsinghua-Johns Hopkins Joint Center for Biomedical Engineering Research was held in the School of Medicine on January 8th. Tsinghua University’s Deputy President Chen Jining and Johns Hopkins University Provost and Senior Vice President Kristina Johnson were present at the ceremony and unveiled the Joint Center. An agreement was also signed between the two universities to enhance cooperation in teaching and research that day.

Tsinghua President Gu and Professor Johnson exchanged ideas in preliminary talks which took place on January 7th on broader future collaboration in the life sciences. Tsinghua Deputy President Chen Jining also participated in the discussion.

During their talks, President Gu noted that Tsinghua attaches great importance to life sciences. The university fully supports the development of life sciences at Tsinghua and actively promotes collaboration with world-renowned universities.

Talking about the Tsinghua-Johns Hopkins Joint Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, President Gu said, “We plan to make the Center into a high-level international academic platform that combines engineering and life science. I hope more outstanding professors and experts can join the Center in the future.”

The Tsinghua-Johns Hopkins Joint Center for Biomedical Engineering Research will carry out research in such biomedical engineering frontier areas as neural engineering, medical imaging, and tissue engineering. It will also promote graduate student and faculty exchange and joint cultivation, and organize bilateral academic symposia.

“Tsinghua will provide full support to the operation of the Joint Center,” said Deputy President Chen. “I am confident that this Center will establish a model for interdisciplinary research, education and international collaboration.”

“It is very exciting for us to renew our historical association and to look forward to working with you on some of the most challenging and exciting research opportunities of the future,” said Professor Johnson.

Also attending the ceremony were Deputy Director Ms. Bai Ge of the National Science Foundation of China’s Department of International Cooperation and Vice Director Mr. Ma Hong Jian of the China National Centre for Biotechnology Development.

Dean Elliot McVeign of Johns Hopkins’ Biomedical Engineering Department and IEEE Fellow and Professor Gao Shangkai of Tsinghua’s Department of Biomedical Engineering both delivered speeches after the ceremony.

The biomedical engineering discipline, originally founded in Tsinghua’s Department of Electrical Engineering in 1979, was one of the first biomedical engineering discipline groups established in China. It was evaluated as a key discipline in 2002 and as a First Category National Key Discipline in 2007. In 2001, the biomedical engineering discipline was moved into Tsinghua’s School of Medicine and formed the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

(Photo by Guo Haijun)