A conference for the appointment of high-level medical talents and the establishment of Hubei Key Laboratory of Cognitive and Emotional Disorders was held in Conference Room 216 of Administrative Building on the morning of October 28. Du Yun, deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province, Qin Daoming, secretary of the CPC Jianghan University (JHU) Committee, Jing Xinhua, president of JHU, Xie Xianqi, academician of the CAE, director of the Academic Committee of JHU, Zhang Hongxing, vice principal of JHU, and other main officials from the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province and relevant departments of JHU attended the meeting.
Qin Daoming chaired the meeting. On behalf of all faculty and students, he welcomed the officials and experts attending the meeting, and expressed gratitude to the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province for its long-term care and support for the school. Qin expressed the hope that JHU will work together with the experts to promote the school’s medical disciplines to new heights.
Enhancing medical disciplines, a crucial development strategy of the school, is an important pillar for JHU to construct national first-class disciplines. The school will further attach importance to the construction of medical disciplines with the expectation that the Medical Department will continue to make breakthroughs in the integration of education, technology, and talent and make greater contributions for accelerating the construction of JHU as a high-level city university.
Jing Xinhua introduced the recent achievements of JHU in discipline construction, talent introduction, especially in medical education and the construction of the Hubei Key Laboratory of Cognitive and Emotional Disorders. He observed that the approval of the key laboratory in December last year is of great significance for cultivating and gathering high-level talent teams and building a first-class platform for brain science technology and innovation in Hubei province. The establishment of the academic committee will also play a positive role in academic work such as discipline construction, academic evaluation, talent cultivation, and academic atmosphere construction. It will guide the relevant work of the laboratory from an academic perspective, inject new vitality and motivation, and provide strong support and guarantee for building JHU’s medical discipline into a first-class one.
Jing Xinhua put forward three expectations for the key laboratory to carry out its work under the guidance of the academic committee. Firstly, the laboratory should conduct rigorous academic research, deeply explore the pathogenesis of diseases related to cognitive and emotional disorders, focus on interdisciplinary research, and promote the output of original and forward-looking scientific research results; secondly, the laboratory should develop new technologies and materials, achieving significant breakthroughs in diseases intervention strategies including relevant animal model development, diagnostic technology research, drug screening, and new physical and chemical therapies; thirdly, the laboratory should attract more research leaders with international views, strengthening exchanges and cooperation with well-known domestic and foreign research institutions, and integrating science and education to cultivate more high-level applied medical talents. He emphasized that the laboratory is a support for the development of medical disciplines in the university, a bond of medical science and education collaboration, and a base for medical talent cultivation. He hoped that, with co-efforts, the talents will contribute to the creation of first-class medical disciplines and the promotion of the development of medical scientific research with JHU characteristics.
Zhang Hongxing announced the appointment documents for high-level medical talents and the first academic committee of the Key Laboratory. Professors Wang Jianzhi, Wang Xiaochuan, Wu Haitao, Yuan Tifei, Wang Dandan, Lan Xiaoli, Liang Kaiwei and others have been appointed as special professors of JHU. Wang Jianzhi and Wang Kai were also appointed as honorary director and director of the academic committee of the key laboratory. Jing Xinhua and Xie Xianqi presented them with appointment letters respectively.
Wang Jianzhi, Wang Kai, and Wang Xiaochuan, as representatives of the high-level talents, spoke successively. They expressed their gratitude to the school for its recognition, trust, attention, and support. They will shoulder the responsibility, fulfill their mission, and make the greatest effort to contribute to the discipline construction, talent cultivation, teaching and research of Jianghan University.
On behalf of the Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province, Du Yun congratulated the establishment of the academic committee of the key laboratory and extended his thanks to all the experts for supporting the development of the laboratory. He also acknowledged the efforts and achievements of JHU in the construction of the key laboratory. Then he introduced the achievements of Hubei province in recent years in sci-tech innovation, talent introduction, disciplinary development, construction of the key laboratory, and the department’s support and development planning for policies, funding, and project applications. Finally, he posed requirements for the subsequent building of the key laboratory: it should focus on the strategic orientation and maintain the academic direction; it should focus on original scientific issues, build a platform for cooperative development, and strengthen synergistic innovation; it should highlight talent training and commercialization of sci-tech achievements; and JHU should fortify the safeguards and support for the laboratory’s construction. Du noted that the convening of today’s meeting, especially the accession of well-known experts and the establishment of the academic committee, marks that this key laboratory has entered a new stage of standardized operation. He was hopeful that JHU will continue to guarantee the talent pool and services, as well as opportunities and conditions, for the rapid development of the laboratory; and that the experts of the academic committee will play a real role in giving the direction and advice to better serve the strategic, forward-looking, and innovative layout and development of the laboratory. He promised that Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology will do its best to support the development of the laboratory.
After the establishment of the academic committee, the first plenary meeting of the First Academic Committee of Hubei Key Laboratory of Cognitive and Emotional Disorders and the academic forum were launched.
At the first plenary meeting, Shu Xiji, director of the laboratory and standing vice president of the Department of Medicine, JHU, made a work reported on the summary of Hubei Key Laboratory of Cognitive and Emotional Disorders in 2023 and 2024 and the construction plan for the future. The members of the academic committee recognized the achievements of the key laboratory and put forward constructive opinions and suggestions on the future work of the lab, including research directions, research features, achievement transformation, talent cultivation, and social services. The meeting also reviewed the 2024 open fund projects of the key laboratory. Zhang Hongxing said that JHU will follow the opinions and suggestions of the academic committee, and fully support and guarantee the subsequent construction of the laboratory and the researches, and hoped that the experts will continue to provide assistance and all-round guidance for the construction and development of the key laboratory.
Prof. Wang Kai, Researchers Wu Haitao and Wang Dandan, and Prof. Xia Yiyuan were invited to participate in the Academic Forum, which was held in the Lecture Hall of Jianghan University Library in the afternoon. They gave four excellent academic lectures, focusing on their respective research fields, for the faculty and students of the Medical Department at Jianghan University.
The Medical Department of Jianghan University was established in 2022. Rooted on the university’s development strategy of “enhancing the medical disciplines,” it actively promotes the integration of medical resources, introduces high-level talents, establishes a mechanism for cultivating young talents, and improves the system of training medical talents. It maintains that the construction of the new medical department should be backed by high-quality faculty and high-level scientific research platforms, so as to promote its medical education system to adapt to the development laws of medical disciplines. The Hubei Key Laboratory of Cognitive and Emotional Disorders under the Department of Medicine was approved at the end of 2023. In the past three years, the department has undertaken more than 120 scientific research projects at all levels, with a total funding of more than RMB 50 million; published more than 200 academic papers in core journals and SCI collections; and obtained more than 40 nationally authorized invention patents. Its neuroscience research team published a cover paper in the top international journal Cell; the microalgae research team signed a RMB 15 million contract for achievement transformation, which is JHU’s first ten-million-level achievement transformation project.