Jan. 5, 2021 saw the inauguration of the School of Public Health and Management (the School, formerly known as the School of Economics and Management), Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. The inauguration marks an important step of the University to develop Double First-rate academic subjects, build itself as a top university in Guangdong, map out its 14th Five-year Plan in a scientific way and implement The Proposal on China’s Stepping up Public Health Education and Talent Pool Development issued by the Ministry of Education.

The inauguration ceremony was graced with the presence of Li Zilian, Deputy Director General of Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau of Guangdong Province, and some leaders of the University, including Zhang Jianhua, Secretary of the CPC Committee, Bai Jiangang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Committee, Deng Guo’an, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee, and Vice President Pan Huafeng, Lin Bin and Wang Hongbin. The heads of the University’s Party and administrative functions and other schools, and some representatives of the faculty and the students jointly witnessed the inauguration. Prof. Feng Zhanchun, Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Management, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, and Prof. Lu Ciyong, Vice Dean of the School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, were invited to give lectures. The event was chaired by Lin Haixing, Secretary of the CPC Committee of the School of Public Health and Management.

Prevention is the most economical and effective health strategy, said Li Zilian, Deputy Director General of Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau of Guangdong Province. Medical education should do more to foster public health professionals and build a talent pool, give priority to beef up the public health workforce we are short of and build a country-wide strategic human resources pipeline for preventive medicine, he added. Driving development of the public health discipline at Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine is a decision made by the CPC Committee and the School to meet the country’s strategic needs and address global major public health concerns. The renaming this time indicates a new step taken by the School to build inner strength. The University is expected to seize the opportunity coming with Guangdong’s ambition to become a leading player in terms of TCM. By integrating resources and riding the wave, the University should seek to become a high-level public health and health service management talent cradle and an influential think tank for health policy-making in the province. Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau of Guangdong Province will care for and support the development of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine as ever.

Pan Huafeng, Vice President of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, said the University has in recent years made continued joint efforts with the authorities at the province, ministry and bureau levels to build itself as a Double First-rate university, and has been driving cross-disciplinary development combining medicine, management, economics and psychology. It has been directly involved in patient treatment and psychological intervention amid the COVID-19 epidemic and provided constructive reference to policy-makers. He wished that the School would maintain its strengths and features, optimize the academic system, strengthen fusion and innovation, and pursue a high starting point, high-quality progress and high-level development. The School should remain true to its original intention, live up to expectations and make greater contribution to the country’s public health system and the entire human race’s health and wellbeing.

Zhou Shangcheng, Dean of the School of Public Health and Management, stated that every effort should be made to build the School as a synonym for TCM. TCM has played an important role in combating COVID-19. It is imperative to do more work to develop those academic subjects contributing to infectious disease prevention and treatment with TCM and foster TCM + public health professionals. Meanwhile, the strength of the public health discipline is decisive to the quality of medical talent development. Medical students must have a stronger awareness of public health.

It is reported that the School of Public Health and Management will offer undergraduate majors in public health, apply for master’s and doctoral degree programs, and enhance the medical education system in the future, according to the country’s requirements for developing Double First-rate subjects and the 14th Five-year Plan of the University. Some future-proof and much needed academic subjects such as preventive medicine, infectious disease prevention with TCM and public health policy are proposed. The School aims to become a high-level public health talent cradle with TCM characteristics within the next 5 to 10 years.