Source: School of Public Health
Written by: Mengmeng Ma
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

China’s first International Symposium for One Health Research (ISOHR) was held in Guangzhou on November 22nd-23rd. The symposium was jointly organized by Sun Yat-sen University, South China Agricultural University, Duke University (USA) and State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, and hosted by School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University. Attendees were the experts and researchers from 10 provinces or municipalities, belonging to governmental institutes such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Animal Health Inspection Institute, universities such as veterinary colleges and medical schools, and also health or agricultural related research institutions. This symposium was co-chaired by Dr. Yuantao Hao, Dean of School of Public Health, and Dr. Wenhua Ling, Director of Office of International Cooperation and Exchange.
 

China’s first International Symposium for One Health Research (ISOHR) hosted by School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University
 

The symposium aims at promoting One Health research collaborations and practices in related fields across China and even Asia to cope with challenges under the new situation and to encourage young researchers’ practices and exploration in this field. The originators of this symposium were Dr. Jiahai Lu and Dr. Gregory C. Gray, the Directors of One Health Center of Excellence for Research and Training, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University.

The symposium invited four academicians including Dr. Nanshan Zhong, Dr. Guoping Zhao, Dr. Jianguo Xu and Dr. Junshi Chen, as well as famous One Health researchers from USA, Australia, Singapore and Romania, etc. to give speeches. At the symposium, research experts coming from more than 10 countries and regions in clinical medicine, public health, veterinary medicine, environmental science, agricultural science, and many other fields called for interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange in response to global health problems.

The symposium also features its student competition session through poster presentations. The scientific committee members strictly reviewed competitors’ abstracts, scored their presentations and finally the First, Second and Third Prizes went to 7 outstanding students, among whom undergraduate student Haogao Gu and PhD candidate Kangkang Liu from School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University won the first and second prize respectively.

On the eve of this symposium China’s first One Health Center of Excellence for Research and Training was established in School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, which is the first One Health related institute in China, marking a substantial first step in the country.