On the morning of November 7, a delegation from the University of Ottawa led by President Marie-Ève Sylvestre and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Melissa Forgie visited the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) School of Medicine. Xi Lifeng, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, met with the delegation at the School of Medicine’s Pudong Campus. Representatives from theuniversity’s Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, School of Medicine’s Academic Affairs Office, Office of Academic Planning and Development, International Affairs Office, and Renji Hospital, also attended the meeting.
Xi Lifeng extended a warm welcome to the guests, noting that the University of Ottawa is one of SJTU’s most important strategic partners. Over the past decade, the Shanghai–Ottawa Joint School of Medicine, jointly established by the two universities, has achieved fruitful results in collaborative education, cultivating hundreds of medical professionals with both global vision and clinical competence. In October this year, Fan Xianqun, Vice President of SJTU, Chancellor of the School of Medicine, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, led a delegation to visit the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine. During that visit, the two institutions signed an agreement to deepen collaboration in clinical medicine, research, and education, further strengthening their partnership. Xi expressed his hope that, building on this solid foundation, both sides would continue to broaden the scope of cooperation, enrich its content, and jointly explore new possibilities in education, research, and innovation.
President Marie-Ève Sylvestre remarked that the two universities have achieved remarkable success in medical cooperation, laying a strong foundation for future interdisciplinary collaboration. She expressed her expectation to further deepen exchanges with SJTU and to expand cooperation into fields such as humanities, law, and fundamental sciences, thereby building a more diverse and multidimensional network of inter-university collaboration.
During the following discussions, both sides shared brief overviews of their institutions and reviewed the achievements of the Shanghai–Ottawa Joint School of Medicine in cultivating outstanding medical talent and building a high-caliber faculty team. The two universities agreed to expand cooperation into more cutting-edge fields including medicine, engineering, artificial intelligence, and quantum information, enhance student exchange and joint research initiatives, and work toward signing a university-level cooperation agreement to inject new vitality into their strategic partnership. Following the meeting, the delegation visited Renji Hospital, where they toured the Hospital History Museum, Smart Metaverse Command Center, International Medical Department, and International Family Physician Clinic. They were received by Xia Qiang, President of Renji Hospital and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Vice President Xue Wei.
Founded in 1848, the University of Ottawa is one of Canada’s leading research universities, renowned for its strong academic environment and unique bilingual (English–French) education system. Its research excellence ranks among the world’s top 100 in multiple disciplines, including medicine, pharmacology, physiological sciences, law, civil engineering, and education.
