Academy helps grow global influence of traditional Chinese medicine

The China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, during which time the influence of the traditional Chinese medicine research institute has spread across the globe.

At an English speech contest held on Friday, Li Kun, the academy's vice-president, said it had signed more than 170 cooperation agreements with medical institutions in more than 40 countries and regions over the past decades.

The academy has also established five overseas centers and formed long-term partnerships with leading universities and hospitals worldwide, she added.

"As a national TCM research institute, we have become a vital platform for international exchange," Li said during the event held at the academy's Xiyuan Hospital.

Li Qiuyan, Party secretary of the hospital, said that since its founding in 1955, the hospital has welcomed experts and scholars from over 100 countries and regions, as well as representatives from international organizations such as the World Health Organization.

In recent years, the hospital has achieved significant progress in promoting international exchange and cooperation, including providing TCM training for more than 3,000 people from over 80 countries.

An increasing number of hospital staff have participated in academic exchanges and visits to leading institutions in countries such as the United States, Germany and Austria.

The English speech contest, held in an effort to cultivate international TCM professionals, featured 10 finalists from clinical, pharmaceutical, nursing and administrative departments, who demonstrated their English presentation skills on TCM topics. More than 50 international guests from Sri Lanka, Guyana and other nations attended as guest judges.

One of the speakers, Sun Lingyun, from the hospital's oncology department, shared her experience teaching doctors at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Sun said that when she first proposed using TCM to treat cancer patients during her PhD studies at the center in 2016, her idea was quickly dismissed by her foreign colleagues due to a lack of evidence and their safety concerns.

Through long-term collaboration between the two institutions, the center opened its first herbal pharmacy in 2019, allowing US doctors to prescribe Chinese medicine for cancer patients. By last year, the number of TCM medicines available at the pharmacy had increased from 16 to 34, targeting 21 conditions.

The institutions have also jointly published clinical trial studies on applying TCM to cancer treatment. Sun said that her foreign colleagues have since taken a more active interest in TCM.

"I believe TCM professionals will continue to uphold ancient wisdom, embrace modern medicine and share TCM's stories with the world to make a greater contribution to global health," she said.

Xi Zhimiao contributed to the story.