Source: News Center, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center
Written by: Song Lili
Translated by: Chen Zhiyong

One of the important agendas of the 28th Congress of Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) held on January 16th was to put out to tender for APAO’s permanent site and the location of APAO Central Secretariat. After the voting of all APAO council members, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University won the bid, beating ophthalmic institutions from Singapore and Hong Kong. The permanent site and the secretariat of APAO, the world’s largest regional academic institution, will be moved to Guangzhou in 2015 and will be located in the building of State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology in Zhujiang New Town Division of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center. The move will not only enhance the development and international cooperation of ophthalmology but also promote the disciplinary construction and internationalization of the University.

According to Liu Yizhi, Director of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, the main construction of Zhujiang New Town Division of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center will be completed by the end of 2014, consisting of a 19-storeyed medical building and a 9-storeyed research building. The construction area of the research building will reach 80,000 square metres and it will be used for the State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology. The permanent site of APAO will occupy 318 square metres of the building. Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center will provide long-term and strong support for the sustainable development of APAO. It is learned that the 30th APAO Congress in 2015 will also be held in Guangzhou.

As the world’s largest regional academic institution, APAO is the professional organization for ophthalmology in the Asia-Pacific region consisting of 19 professional ophthalmic societies of its members including Chinese Ophthalmological Society, Australian Ophthalmological Society, and Ophthalmological Society of New Zealand. It aims to enhance and improve the level of ophthalmic development of its members, especially the internationalization of ophthalmic education. At the opening ceremony of the 28th APAO Congress, Professor Frank Matin, President of APAO announced that the permanent site and central secretariat of APAO would be in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and he believed that this would mark a new era for the leap-forward development of APAO.

It is learned that the APAO Council chose Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center because of its level of research and internationalization, and the geographical strength, international transport network and comprehensive strength of Guangzhou.

Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center is China’s first multifunctional modern ophthalmic center integrating medicine, education, research, and blindness prevention and treatment. Through its development of nearly five decades, the Center has become a leading ophthalmic center in the country enjoying world reputation. As one of the first national key disciplines of ophthalmology, it is the support unit of the only National Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology in China. Three times in a row, it ranks No. 1 in ophthalmology in the best specialty reputation ranking of Chinese hospitals. It is also one of the first national key clinical specialty construction units of ophthalmology. Successive leaders of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center have upheld the tradition of being “open and practical”, and the Center has launched international academic exchange and cooperation, accumulating abundant experience of holding large-scale international academic conferences. Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center has established and maintained long-term friendly cooperation in the ophthalmic field with many countries and regions, has held bilateral academic activities extensively, and is enjoying increasing international influence. Therefore, it will provide a favorable external environment for the long-term development of APAO. Moreover, Professor Dennis Lam, former secretary-general and president-elect of APAO, is a specially appointed professor of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and director of National Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology; Professor Liu Yizhi of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center is an APAO council member and chair of APAO Public Education Standing Committee; Professor He Mingguang is deputy secretary-general of APAO; and this will ensure the smooth transition and operation of APAO and its central secretariat to move from Hong Kong to Guangzhou.

APAO settles permanently in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center because Guangzhou has good basic conditions for permanent sites of international organizations mainly in four aspects. First, from the perspective of history, as early as in 1835, American missionary Peter Parker opened an ophthalmic clinic in Guangzhou, the first Western hospital in China and the forerunner of Boji Hospital, which was the forerunner of today’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital. This is the earliest historical origin of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center. Second, from the perspective of the theory of headquarters economy, Guangzhou ranks high in China in terms of economy, society, commercial services, research environment, and culture. After 30 years of reform and opening-up, Guangzhou has three fast-developing, large-scale and relatively mature blocs of headquarters economy: Huanshi East CBD, Tianhe North―Sports Center Commercial District, and Zhujiang New Town Financial District. According to a survey result of American Fortune magazine, top choices of regional headquarters of transnational companies in China are Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Third, from the perspective of geographical advantages, Guangzhou is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, reaches out to Southeast Asia, and is located in the core position of the Asia-Pacific region, enjoying prominent geographical advantages. It has convenient transport and public facilities, and the second largest airport in China with annual traffic of more than 31 million passengers to over 100 countries. Fourth, from the perspective of talent advantage, Guangzhou has international talents for headquarters economy and open atmosphere for knowledge innovation, as well as abundant human and educational resources for specific needs of knowledge intensive value creating activities.

APAO’s settling in Guangzhou will help build Guangdong Province into a high-end international base for ophthalmology in the Asia-Pacific region, thus increasing the influence of Guangdong’s ophthalmology led by Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center over the ophthalmology markets in ASEAN member states; further strengthening the relationship between Chinese ophthalmologists and the international ophthalmic field; enhancing regularized international cooperation and exchange in ophthalmology; widening the international horizon of Chinese ophthalmologists, further improving China’s academic level in ophthalmology; and making available high-quality international ophthalmic service to local people.