Nearly 100 medical scientists and experts from the United States and China gathered in Houston Monday, December 11, to kick off the First Sino-US Symposium on Medicine in the 21st Century.

The symposium, aimed at seeking further cooperation between Chinese and US medical scientists, will discuss new challenges regarding health care, medical education, clinical medicine and biomedical research in the 21st century.

"We hope to bring together the highest levels of medical professionals from both countries to interact with each other," said Chinese scientist Le Weidong, who co-chaired the meeting with James Willerson, president of University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center.

"The meeting will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss new challenges and strategies in health care, medical education, developments in clinical medicine, and medical research in the new century," said Lee P. Brown, mayor of Houston, in a welcome speech at the opening ceremony.

Brown said the common concerns of people worldwide, such as health care, transcend dividing lines of language, customs, political philosophy and geography.

Present at the meeting include Ferid Murad, who shared the 1998 Nobel physiological or medical prize with two other scientists, modern medicine pioneer Michael DeBakey with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and Randolph Smoak, president of the American Medical Association.

Elton Bomer, secretary of Texas State, and Chen Zhu, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also delivered speeches at the opening ceremony.

Chen said that the United States and China have their own advantages in medicine and biomedicine research, and will see more collaboration between the two countries' scientists in this field in the future.

The four-day meeting was organized by Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center and Medical School, and the Methodist Health Care System.

The workshop was initiated by the Society of Medicine and Biotechnology of the Chinese Association of Professionals in Sciences and Technology.

(People's Daily 12/12/2000)