Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry has signed a collaboration agreement with the Shen Yang Hospital of Stomatology – the fourth Chinese institution with which it has forged a collaboration in the past year.
Shen Yang Hospital of Stomatology is an independent faculty of the School of Stomatology, Dallan University, China. It is also the teaching hospital of Liao Ning Medical College and has five departments: prosthetics, orthodontics, endodontics, maxillofacial surgery and public health dentistry.
It has 249 clinical and teaching personnel, 67 of whom are chief clinicians or professors. The hospital cares for the dental needs of Shen Yang city, which is the sixth largest city in China with a population in excess of six million.
The collaboration with Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry will begin with Shen Yang Hospital of Stomatology either sending a member of staff to Plymouth to study for a PhD or a short term postdoctoral level researcher.
The arrangement with Shen Yang Hospital of Stomatology will join similar collaborations that Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry has implemented with the School of Stomatology at Capital Medical University (whose directors visited Plymouth in 2015 and which is sending its first masters student to Plymouth this March); the School of Stomatology, Shandong University, and; the Second Hospital (School of Clinical Medicine), also Shandong University.
All four agreements have been brokered by internationally-recognised researcher Dr Bing Hu, Associate Professor in Oral and Dental Health Research at Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry.
He commented:
“Our latest collaboration with an institution in China stands testament to our growing international reputation for dental research and education excellence. Our colleagues at Shen Yang Hospital of Stomatology are eager to develop a research portfolio with us and we look forward to welcoming the first of their personnel to Plymouth in autumn this year.”
Professor Christopher Tredwin, Head of Plymouth University Peninsula School of Dentistry, commented:
“This is an immensely exciting collaboration and builds on our significant relationships with other institutions in China. This latest collaboration is an important development in our aim to create meaningful international impact.”
Professor Robert Sneyd, Dean of Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, added:
“My congratulations go to Bing Hu and my colleagues in dentistry who have worked so hard to develop these agreements. I am immensely proud that as one of the newer cohort of dental schools we are achieving this level of international interest and engagement.”