Global medical cooperation is crucial for facilitating the sharing of medical resources and expertise, especially in treating tumors and other serious illnesses. It also provides multi-disciplinary treatment plans for patients and helps tackle complicated diseases, Marc Shuman, emeritus chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco spoke via video at the inauguration ceremony of the Arion International MDT Medical Center.
The event, held in Beijing on August 8, marked a significant step forward for the center in providing world-class medical services by leveraging international medical talent, technology, and resources.
To date, the center, established under the cooperation program between the Arion Cancer Center based in Beijing and global digital health company MORE Health based in the U.S., has established cooperative relations with medical institutions from the U.S., Singapore, and Japan. By March 2024, it had dealt with about 100 tumor cases under cooperation between experts in China and abroad over the past three years, according to Xu Zhonghuang, dean of the Arion Cancer Center.
"Tumors are a global challenge that does not respect borders, threatening human health everywhere," said Hu Lan, founder and CEO of the Amcare Healthcare Group. "The global demand for improved healthcare service is increasing. Some Chinese patients go abroad for medical treatment, but this often entails high costs, prolonged treatment cycles, and inadequate follow-up management upon their return."
"The treatment plan is vital to the survival chances for patients diagnosed with cancer. This collaboration seeks to develop better precise treatments that could be life-saving," Hu said.
Under this collaborative model, top medical experts domestically and globally will collaborate in real time through the full-term multidisciplinary management. Patients can receive diagnosis and treatment in China, and will only be transferred abroad if necessary.
This approach optimizes the process of seeking medical treatment overseas, and provides patients with comprehensive, personalized, and internationally aligned treatment plans that enhance cross-border medical efficiency and reduce financial burdens.
"The collaborative mode expands access to innovative and precise treatments worldwide, and improves the survival rates of patients," Hu said.
The trio will conduct a series of experiments in fields such as life science, fluid physics, combustion science and materials science. Notably, this is the first time that fruit flies have been taken on a Chinese space mission as experimental subjects. What made scientists choose fruit flies? What experiment will they undergo?
