China can lead the world in new medicine

I’ve been working in China for 10 years, so I am aware of the significance of being recognized as an academician. Liu Jiongtian, president of Zhengzhou University, is already a member, but I never imagined that one day I might also be honored as an academician. I feel very proud.

The sheer scale of the patient population in China is the major difference (from the United Kingdom), both as an opportunity and a challenge. In Zhengzhou, I work at the First Affiliated Hospital, the largest in the world and more than 10 times larger than Bart’s (St. Bartholomew’s Hospital), where I work in London. In China, most patients only see doctors in the hospital, whereas in the UK most healthcare is delivered outside hospitals by general practitioners in primary care.

It has been exhilarating to create the Academy of Medical Sciences at Zhengzhou University and recruit top talent from across the world to research the most important health problems. Our work developing new therapies and vaccines for cancer is going well, and we are branching out into new areas, such as stem cell technology.

There is a saying, “If you want something done, ask a busy man.” I love all of the roles I fulfill, both in China and the UK, but that success would not be possible without the support of fantastic staff who understand exactly what is required to deliver our vision. I think my office director is probably busier than I am, given all the organization required!

Our first priority is to complete building and recruiting for the medical academy in Zhengzhou, but our next mission is to create a network of leading medical schools and their affiliated hospitals to accelerate clinical trials in China. I am the medical director of the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network in the UK, where last year we recruited 660,000 patients to clinical trials from a population of about 65 million people. Just imagine if we could replicate something similar in China with a population of 1.4 billion people; the potential to accelerate access to new medicines and medical devices through clinical research is something I want to push forward. China has a huge population and a government that is committed to harnessing the power of genomics and new technologies to transform healthcare. I believe China can lead the world in this direction. Nicholas Lemoine spoke with Li Hongyang.

Nicholas Lemoine, dean of the Academy of Medical Sciences at Zhengzhou University, Henan province, who was recently elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering