On the morning of October 29th, an inaugural ceremony commemorating the establishment of the School of Life Sciences was held on Liangxiang campus. Wang Zhizhen, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wu Jianwei, Chairman of BUCM University Council, Xu Anlong, BUCM President, and some other members of BUCM leadership attended the ceremony, which was hosted by Jin Qi, Vice-chairman of BUCM University Council.

President Xu Anlong stressed in his speech that the establishment of the School of Life Sciences at BUCM is of great strategic value for the birth of TCM life sciences as a new discipline and the future development of preventive medicine. He said that the founding of the schools a pioneering innovation in the history of traditional Chinese medicine. Sixty years ago, TCM higher education was born in  new China with the care and support from Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou when renowned senior TCM doctors gathered in Beijing and founded the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. Sixty years later when the national plan for a Healthy China 2030 has been officially published, BUCM has invited experts in related fields from around the world to set up the first school of life sciences in TCM universities and colleges for the mission of nurturing the new discipline of TCM life sciences. Its establishment marks the beginning of BUCM’s exploration into the forefront of life sciences and its leadership in this area in addition to its existing strengths in TCM disciplines. The newly founded school is more than a new organization. It marks the birth of a new discipline. It seeks to explore, inherit and develop classical TCM theories and ways of understanding human body by means of the world’s most cutting-edge cognitive instrument and platform of life sciences. Furthermore, the School of Life Sciences enjoys a solid academic foundation and a high level of innovation. BUCM has created the new discipline of TCM life sciences, leading the future development of preventive medicine. BUCM has not only established close collaboration with relevant institutions through the new discipline, but also recruited top experts in life sciences to ensure that the school will stand from the very beginning at a high level in the discipline. We are honored to have Wang Zhizhen, a famous biochemist and molecular biologist in China and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to lead the new school, and a team from Harvard Medical School to plan and lead the development of the new discipline. More excellent teams from the United States, Japan, Europe and the rest of the world will be invited to the school in future. The establishment of the school is a also reflection of the pioneering spirit of BUCM in university management.

Prof. Qi Jin, on behalf of the University Council, announced the appointments of Wang Zhizhen as the Dean of the School of Life Sciences, Shi Yuanyuan as Executive Associate Dean, and Lu Tao as Deputy Dean.

President Anlong Xu awarded the letter of appointment to Prof. Chih-chen Wang

President Anlong Xu awarded the letter of appointment to Dr. Yuanyuan Shi

President Anlong Xu awarded the letter of appointment to Prof. Dr. Tao Lu

Wang Zhizhen, Dean of the Schoole of Life Sciences, said in her inauguration speech that the establishment of the school was not only an important event in the history of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, but also a pioneering endeavor in the development of TCM universities and colleges. She pointed out that in order to modernize Chinese medicine and disseminate Chinese medicine to the world, we have to find a “common language” for people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds to understand Chinese medicine. In other words, we need to showcase the essence of traditional Chinese medicine on the world stage by means of modern science. Nowadays, people’s desire to “return to the nature” is increasingly great due to the bottlenecks in drug development and treatment of Western medicine, the lack of effective management measures for most chronic diseases and difficult miscellaneous diseases, the continuous deterioration of the living environment of mankind. Under such circumstances, traditional medicine is becoming popular. Traditional Chinese medicine is not only a treasure house of China, but also an important treasure of the whole world. To implement the national strategy of “Healthy China 2030”, and for the development of human society and medicine, a historic opportunity is now available for the integration of the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine and modern life sciences. The newborn school will facilitate the scientific research of traditional Chinese medicine, and the integration of the theories and achievements of TCM and biomedicine. With the essence of Chinese medicine and distinctive characteristics, the school will perform the functions of manufacture, education and research, pave the way for better understanding, innovation, and development of traditional Chinese medicine, and make outstanding contributions to a healthy China.

Prof. Jianwei Wu and DeanChih-chen Wang inaugurated for the School of Life Sciences.