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5 Medical Faculty News Creating Pathways The process of the Faculty’s re-engagement with the Mainland has been unfolding since the late 1970s, when Deng Xiaoping initiated the open-door policy which just celebrated its 40th anniversary. In the early years, the Faculty acted as a bridge between Mainland and overseas counterparts, sharing technology and skills to help build up competencies. From around 1997, the capacities of Mainland medical educators and healthcare professionals began to advance at a very rapid pace and our relationship transformed into a two-directional transmission of knowledge and understanding. More recently, our interactions have entered a new era of greater scope and ambition. Healthy China 2030, which was launched by President Xi Jinping in 2016, is a major milestone in the country’s healthcare reform. Under the theme “co- building, sharing and health for all”, the strategy aims to rapidly improve the health of all sectors of society by improving healthcare access, service quality, public education and many other areas, including the education and training of healthcare professionals. For the Faculty, all this means there are many opportunities arising for innovation and collaboration, which are further multiplied by the GBA and Belt and Road initiatives. The latter also aims to fortify and forge connections on the New Silk Road and promote economic development and innovation, including in the field of healthcare, which plays to the Faculty’s strengths in international relations. (There is also an international dimension to Healthy China 2030 because it dovetails with the 2030 deadline for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Organization’s universal health coverage, which both seek to improve healthcare for everyone on the planet.) Professor Leung is keen for the Faculty to be both a participant and a leader in the national health-sector reform movement, a role for which the Faculty has already achieved recognition. In 2018, Queen Mary Hospital was ranked the top hospital in the Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and three other teaching hospitals were named in the top 50: Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital (5th), Gleneagles Hong Kong Hospital (26th) and HKUSZH (45th). The latter is particularly notable because of its pioneering work as a role model for many other hospitals on the Mainland. “We started the HKUSZH even before there were equivalent big political narratives, like the GBA. We experienced growing pains and came in for a lot of criticism. This is to be expected at the beginning when you venture into something new – you are often derided as a fool because what you are doing is not received wisdom, otherwise everybody would be doing it. Yet now we are an innovator and trailblazer. And that is the point of a university: to be at the frontier,” he said. 1 The Alice Memorial Hospital in 1887 which housed the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (the precursor of the Faculty) in the early stage upon the establishment of the College. 雅麗氏紀念醫院(1887年)撥出四個小房間給香港華人西醫書院(醫學院前身)作為創院初期課室。 2 The Faculty of Medicine was invited to join the China Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals (formerly China Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals for Residency Education) in 2017. 醫學院於 2017 年獲邀加入「中國精英教學醫院聯盟」(前身為「中國住院醫師培訓精英教學醫院聯盟」)。 到了2047年，當大灣區發展已成熟，當『一帶一路』重新賦予 全球主義新意義的時候，我們必須確定自己萬事俱備。充足 的準備對於科研發展、香港醫療界、以及最重要的是，對於 今日的醫科學生，也就是明日的醫生都非常重要。 ─ 醫學院院長梁卓偉教授