This summer, Dean Barry Bloom and HSPH faculty members led a group of friends of the School to China, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Tibet, to meet government, business, and public health officials.

The group observed HSPH-related efforts to improve the health of workers. HSPH Professor David Christiani described long-established epidemiological studies that have elucidated respiratory illnesses among textile workers. Assistant Professor Yuanli Liu and Professor William Hsiao described their rural health efforts to provide basic health care. Frank Hu, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology, explained how obesity and heart disease rates are increasing as the country becomes more industrialized. In the future, it is hoped that these projects can form the basis for a broader health research initiative involving HSPH faculty and scholars in China.

Dean Barry Bloom (left) and Minister of Health for China Gao Qiang

On June 21, Dean Bloom and officials from the Chinese Ministry of Health and Tsinghua University in Beijing signed a memorandum of agreement for planning a program to train senior Chinese health executives. The five-year project is expected to involve about 500 executives and to offer two training courses each year.