On December 24^th, 2014, the Department of Pediatric Oncology of the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC) was invited to a video-conference with two American Institutions, namely the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Given the increasing needs in globalizing healthcare, teaching and research cooperation, the tripartite video conference conducted by the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles aimed to gain mutual understanding and explore the possibility of further collaboration.

Eager to develop further relationships with the two American Institutions, Pr Qian Chao-Nan, Vice-President of SYSUCC, had intensive discussions with the representatives of the US institutions. Representatives from different departments of SYSUCC also participated in the meeting, such as ones from the Department of Pediatric Oncology, Neurosurgery, Urology, Medical Oncology, Information Technology, International Cooperation, as well as the technology services provider Accenture.

The meeting began with Dr. Zhen Zi-Jun, Associate Professor of the Pediatric Oncology Department, who introduced SYSUCC and his dedicated field.

Then the floor was given to Dr Stuart Siegel from CHLA, who introduced his institution and gave multiple clues concerning eventual collaboration.

The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was founded in 1901; it is the first children’s hospital of Southern California and is ranked in the top 5 for Children Hospitals by the “US News and World Report”. In 2009, it was awarded the Best Children Hospital in the US. The hospital gathers more than 5,000 employees, including 588 medical staff. It has 568 beds, 10,920 new inpatient cases, about 301,838 outpatients’ visits and 15,459 surgeries each year.

The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles also made remarkable achievements in Pediatric Oncology such as the development of international standardization of neurablastoma treatment protocols or the largest Children’s Hematology Center in the West of the United States.
Following the  speech of CHLA, the University of Southern California made one also, promising to actively participate and promote international cooperation.

Prof Qian Chao-Nan and the other institutions then exchanged on an hospital level, presenting views and exploring the feasibility of a multifaceted cooperation. Professor Sun Xiao-Fei, Director of the Pediatric Oncology Department of SYSUCC, exposed more practical possibilities of collaboration such as Sino-US training, remote consultation, cooperation through conferences and clinical trials, in order to create common progress in medical care, teaching and research, to benefit the patients.

 Once the video conference ended, the staff from SYSUCC attending had a brief meeting to summarize the collaboration opportunities the exchange could lead to; signing an agreement for staff training programs, conducting remote consultations and optimizing the network platform for teleconsultation. Establishing teleconsultation together with the US will provide better treatment services for the cancer patients, but also strengthen multilateral cooperation to improve the overall level of SYSUCC.

The video conference with the two institutions from the US was a real success, promising to give a good start to SYSUCC for remote consultations with foreign institutions, laying the foundation for promoting international exchanges and cooperation for Pediatric Oncology.

Tripartite conference between SYSUCC, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

 (Pediatric Oncology Department, Pr Zhen Zi-Jun)