Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology launches the Tongji Summer Program in July 2021. A team of professors from Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), University of Bern (Switzerland), Zhejiang University, and Sun Yat-sen University will teach three epidemiology-related courses in English. The program is open to students enrolled in Tongji Medical College who have sufficient language and professional learning skills. Each student may take one or more courses of their choice. Upon completion of the course, students will receive a certificate and credit for the corresponding summer course.

I. Lecturer

Prof. Oscar H. Franco is Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and Director of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) at the University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Furthermore, Oscar is Adjunct Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and scientific advisor for the French television channel France24. Prof. Franco has published over 700 publications and has a H-index of 94. Prof. Franco obtained his MD at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia in 1998. In 2001 he moved to the Netherlands to complete MSc and DSc degrees in clinical epidemiology and a Ph.D. in public health and cardiovascular disease prevention (2005) at the Erasmus University Medical Center. Following a postdoc at Erasmus MC, he moved to the UK where he was a senior public health epidemiologist at Unilever England, assistant professor of public health at the University of Warwick, and then director of the MPhil program and clinical lecturer in public health at the University of Cambridge. In 2012 Prof. Franco returned to ErasmusMC where he worked as professor of preventive medicine and the principal investigator of the cardiovascular epidemiology group. He also founded and directed the Rotterdam Intergenerational Ageing Research Center, ErasmusAGE, and he was cofounder and CEO of Erasmus Epidemiology Resources. A fellow of, inter alia, the European Society of Cardiology and St Edmunds' College at the University of Cambridge, Prof. Franco was awarded the Dutch national public health prize of 2005.

Dr. Changzheng Yuan is currently a Research Professor at Zhejiang University School of Public Health. Dr. Yuan is also an Adjunct Professor at the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. She holds a doctoral of science degree in Nutrition and Epidemiology, and a master of science degree in Epidemiologic Methods from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She also received a bachelor of medicine degree in preventive medicine, and a bachelor of art degree in economics from Peking University. Her research interest and expertise has primarily focused on nutrient validations studies and using population-based studies to investigate lifestyle and nutritional determinants of chronic and cognitive disease. Dr. Yuan has over 40 peer-reviewed publications in top epidemiology, nutrition, neuroscience and medical journals, such as American Journal of Epidemiology (AJE), American Journal Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), Neurology, and JAMA Pediatrics. Her current research focus includes nutritional epidemiologic methods and nutritional cognitive neuroscience.          

Sara Hagg, PhD, is a Researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm, Sweden, where she is also a Docent in Molecular Epidemiology (Swedish teaching qualification degree). She did her undergraduate training at Stockholm University majoring in Molecular Biology (MSc) and Computer Science (BSc) and completed her thesis in Computational Biology (PhD) at Linköping University, Sweden, in 2009. After that, she did postdoc training in Genetic- and Molecular Epidemiology at KI and Uppsala University. She has also spent some time as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Stanford University during 2016. However, since 2015, Dr. Hägg has run her own research group at KI focusing on molecular epidemiological studies of aging, with a special focus on biological age. She has published widely in this area, supervised many students finalizing a doctoral degree, and during the pandemic, she has started working with geriatricians from hospitals in the Stockholm area studying frailty in old covid-19 patients. This work has now been extended and in collaboration with Associate Professor Qi Wang and colleagues at the Huazhong University of Science & Technology, they will study how the pandemic has affected health in the older population in Wuhan and Stockholm.

Dr. Yiqiang Zhan is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China. Before moving to Guangzhou, he was a tenure-track Assistant Professor in epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. He was also a group leader and principal investigator in neuroepidemiology at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). Dr. Zhan has been working on aging and neurodegenerative diseases for the past years and was awarded the NIA Telomere Research Network Award in 2021. He obtained his bachelor, master, and PhD degrees from Shandong University, Fudan University, and Karolinska Institutet, respectively. He has published over 50 articles and has a H-index of 24.

II. Teaching format

The course is taught in English and is delivered online and offline through lectures, videos, readings, labs, and discussions. Assessment is mainly in class attendance, post-class exercises, class discussions, class reports, or short essays. (See the course schedule in Attachment1 for details).

1.On the morning of July 19-23, 2021, Nutritional Epidemiology: Methods and Practice;

2.On the afternoon of July 19-23, 2021, Clinical Applications of Epidemiology;

3.In the morning and afternoon of July 26-30, 2021, Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology.

III. Course Information

1.Enrollment: 30 students (tentative)

2.Course Arrangement: See Attachment1 Curriculum Arrangement

3.Class time: (July 19th-July 23rd, July 26th-July 30th) 9:00-12:00 and 15:00-18:00

4.Class hours and credits: a total of 3 courses; two of them are 16 hours and one credit; one course is 32 hours and two credits

IV. Application Requirements

1.Postgraduate students enrolled in Tongji Medical College (including clinical medicine students in the fifth year of the eighth year or above), with no restriction on grade.

2.Any major, but a background in relevant courses (especially epidemiology-related courses, some of which require learning experience in nutrition or biostatistics) with good grades in the major is required.

3.Have good professional English skills to complete full English courses.

V. Application Process

1.Complete the Attachment2 "Application Form for 2021 Tongji Summer Program" (requires the signature and approval of the tutor)

2.Complete the Attachment3 "Commitment Letter for Participating in 2021 Tongji Summer Course".

3.Submit the signed paper Application Form and Commitment Letter to Room 107, 1/F, Building 1, School of Public Health (please submit it to international exchange office, 3/F, International Student Apartment on Wednesday)

4.Deadline for application: July 10, 2021

VI. Other notes

1.This course is free of charge for students of Tongji Medical College, and registration is not accepted from students of other schools.

2.On a first-come, first-served basis, subject to a valid application form signed and approved by the instructor.

3.If the content of the application materials is untrue, the registration qualification will be canceled;

4.The teaching team will combine the materials submitted by the students to evaluate the candidates for the course;

5.After enrolling and being selected, you may not withdraw from the course without reason

VII. Contact

Name: Ms. Lu Yizhong

Mailbox: luyizhong20@163.com

Tel: 027-83693673, 86-17721502737

Attachment1: Curriculum Arrangement of 2021 Tongji Summer Program

Attachment2: Application Form for 2021 Tongji Summer Program

Attachment3: Commitment Letter for Participating in 2021 Tongji Summer Program

Please download the attachment via this link:

http://gs.hust.edu.cn/info/1041/11984.htm