On January 9, 2015, the conference for the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award was held in Beijing, in the Great Hall of the People.

The President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, the Prime Minister Li Keqiang, the Vice-Minister Liu Yandong and many other party and state leaders attended the awards ceremony, presenting certificates to the awardees. Besides the seven individuals, only one academic institution, namely our privileged partner and sister institution MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), were granted the "International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award of China", in recognition of its significant contribution to cancer prevention and treatment in China through multi-faceted cooperation in the past decades with Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC).

The International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award of China is awarded by the State Council. From 1994 onward, the National Office for Science and Technology Awards has been organizing and managing the award process. So far, the award has been enjoying a good reputation in China and abroad. The purpose of this Award is to reward the foreign scientists, engineers, administrative staff for research and technology management and academic institutions or organizations, who have made important contributions to the progress of science and technology in China. The award is also to thank them for the international cooperation and friendship in scientific and technological fields.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was founded in 1941 and is one of the world's most important specialized center in cancer treatment, research, education and prevention. It has been ranked first in the world for ten times, in the "Best Hospitals Ranking" of "US News and World Report". Currently employing 19,000 people (including 2,000 physicians), MD Anderson Cancer Center admits each year more than 110,000 cancer patients and 1,100 residency training specialists. The annual investment in research is above $ 63 million, with the highest amount of NIH research funds obtained in the US. Overall, MD Anderson Cancer Center is a modern innovative oncology center, leader in cancer prevention, diagnosis and novel treatment technologies.

The opening of the academic exchanges between both institutions dates back to the 80’s with the visit to MDACC of Pr Guan Zhong-Zhen, at that time a student.

With medical staff exchanges each year since 1998, the relationship between Sun Yat-sen University and MD Anderson Cancer Center took a closer turn, establishing strong ties on both sides in the fields of cancer care, prevention and research. In September 26, 2003, an agreement was signed, defining them as sister institutions, to strengthen the relationship and deepen the comprehensive cooperation between the two institutions. Through the years, this privileged partnership led to a fruitful cooperation in numerous fields: medical technology development, patient referral system, medical staff exchanges, lectures, key research projects and clinical trials .

The cooperation with MDACC brought many other development opportunities to SYSUCC such as for the Chinese Journal of Cancer, sponsored by SYSUCC, which officially became SCI Indexed by Thomson Reuters in 2014.

With MDACC’s clinical research example, SYSUCC built the first anti-cancer drug clinical trial center in China, organizing hundreds of clinical studies over the years.Led by SYSUCC’s professors, 12 clinical trials research achievements were adopted in several international treatment guidelines for global clinical application.

Since the establishment of the partnership, more than 40 employees from SYSUCC went to study in MDACC,enhancing the development of clinical treatment and research at SYSUCC.

Both sides jointly carried out a great number of basic and translational research projects,received four patents and publishing more than sixty high-level academic papers.

Based on the elements of this multi-faceted and long-term cooperation, MD Anderson Cancer Center was granted the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award of China, becoming the second international institution ever being awarded.

On the edge of the ceremony held on January 9, 2015, the Vice-Minister Liu Yandong expressed her warm congratulations to the foreign guests, and thanked all the foreign awardees for their great contribution to the development of Science and Technology in China.

“Since the reform and the opening, through the hard work of several generations of scientists who learned from the developed countries and actively carried out international scientific and technological cooperation in various fields of work, China's science and technology has made great progress. However, China is still a developing country; let’s hope for a future where the world's leading international institutions and experts carry out more and better cooperation projects to promote the development of science and technology to a whole new level.”

2015.1.13

Liu Yandong, vice minister, shaking hands with MD Anderson Cancer Center’s award winner, Professor Oliver Bogler

From left to right: Deputy Director of the International Office of SYSUCC Liao Shuang, Senior Vice-President of MDACC Olivier Bogler, Vice-President of  SYSUCC Qian Chao-Nan, MDACC International Academic Programs Director Ta-Jen Liu.