In 2003, I was invited to attend and present a scientific paper at the GWICC meeting in Beijing, China, by Professor Hu Dayi. At the time Prof Hu was chief of cardiology in Beijing and Dean of a medical school in Shanghai. This conference was and still is the largest cardiology educational and scientific program in China and is attended by more than ten thousand persons, mostly Chinese, but also Europeans, Americans, and other nationalities.
During that time, I lectured at both Beijing and Shanghai and developed a close relationship to Prof. Hu and his # 1 administrative assistant, Mary Yin. We discussed the possibility of a joint American College of Cardiology, Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology, symposium in Beijing, China at the next GWICC meeting.
After discussion with the ACC leadership, this joint meeting came to fruition, and every year since, in October, the ACC president leads a delegation to Beijing, China to participate and discuss cardiovascular issues common to the Chinese and Americans. The ACC faculty is chosen by the ACC president and the topics are variable but generally relate to primary and secondary prevention of cardiac disease. Subsequently, other cardiovascular organizations have taken the lead of the ACC and developed joint symposia with the Chinese e.g. ESC, WHF, AHA etc.
Since that time, I have been fortunate to be invited to participate in the activities of the GWICC by Professor Hu and have enjoyed my many yearly visits to China. During those visits to Beijing and the GWICC, I have learned what Chinese medicine is all about and have been greatly impressed with the sophistication of Chinese Cardiology.
Part of my responsibility at the program in addition to giving a lecture, is to chair the Young Investigator session. In this session, young Chinese cardiovascular trainees present scientific material in English and answer questions related to their presentations in English. This is quite important for these young people, since, if they wish to present the same information at any international meeting, it must be done in English. e.g. annual scientific sessions of the European congress of Cardiology, American college of cardiology, American Heart Association, Asian Pacific Congress of cardiology, etc.
During the course of my trips to China, I helped establish the Chinese chapter of the ACC and Chinese ACCEL (four issues/year). This latter effort was directed to the young Chinese doctors so they can be more familiar with medical English. With each ACCEL issue to the Chinese, (4 per year), topics were chosen, by Professor Hu and I commented on the interviews in written English.
Recently, because of my relationship to Professor Hu, I have been asked to serve as Editor in chief of Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications (CVIA). This is a great honor for me, since the journal is the official journal of the GWICC. My goal is to develop a first rate English language peer reviewed cardiovascular journal over the next several years. Obviously we must start slowly, but eventually, with the help of the editorial board (including Professor Ma, Associate Editor of the journal), the journal will be published monthly, the readership and impact factor will be increased, and submission of material from all parts of the world, not just China will be encouraged.