Research training partnership continues with arrival of students from China

Global REACH recently welcomed to Michigan Medicine the latest cohort of visiting medical students from China’s Xiangya School of Medicine.

Five people on a Zoom video-call
The latest visiting students from the Xiangya School of Medicine on a UMMS orientation Zoom session.

Global REACH recently welcomed to Michigan Medicine the latest cohort of visiting medical students from China’s Xiangya School of Medicine.

The five students arrived in Ann Arbor in recent weeks for a research training program that will find them embedded in the labs of UMMS faculty mentors for the next two years, part of a training partnership between the two institutions launched in 2014. UMMS accepts up to ten students from Xiangya each year, although COVID-related travel restrictions forced a hiatus for 2021.

“I heard of the program since I entered college and knew it would be a wonderful opportunity for me to learn at the University of Michigan,” said Hui Wang. “My classmates that have come to Michigan before told me the environment is friendly. It has a good reputation.”

Xiangya medical students typically come to UMMS in the final stages of their 8-year program, spending two years before returning to China to finish their MD. Some spend five years in Ann Arbor as part of a newer, PhD-conferring program.

Wang is working in the lab of Professor of Internal Medicine Daniel Goldstein. Her classmate Tonchen He is in the lab of Professor of Pathology Arul Chinnaiyan, an opportunity he sought out.

“My major is urological oncology, so I knew of Dr. Chinnaiyan’s work,” He said. “I contacted the lab first to ask about joining and then I chose to come to Michigan. I am very happy to be here.”
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