On April 6^th 2017 was held the grand opening ceremony of the 2017 Shenzhen International Precision Medicine Summit, in the hope of boosting ties and exchanges on the latest achievements and technologies in the industry. The Summit was co-organised by SUSTech and held at the Shenzhen Wuzhou Hotel.

A number of important figures were present at the event including:

• Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People ‘s Congress and Former National Health Minister Chen Zhu

• Nobel Medicine Laureate and Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Pr. James Watson

• President of the Chinese People ‘s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries Li Xiaolin

• Shenzhen Municipal Committee and Former head of Shekou Auto Trade District Management Committee Director Tian Fu

• Vice Mayor of Shenzhen Wu Yihuan

• Shenzhen Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference Vice Chairman Wang Daping

• American Academy of Sciences and MSKCC Professor Dinshaw Patel

• Chinese Academy of Sciences and Deputy director of the Chinese disease control center Gao Fu

• Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences researcher Xu Guoliang

• Southern University of Science and Technology President Chen Shiyi

• Professor of UTC Cancer Research, Yale University, USA and Yale Cancer Center Director of Cancer Immunology Chen Pingping

• National Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Guide Fund Chairman Ma Weihua

• Lottery Investment Group Chairman Liu Ruchen

• Shenzhen Municipal Party Committeeformer director of the Bureau of Administration Du Peng

The summit was organised by SUSTech, Shenzhen Qianhai Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone Administration Bureau and Cheerland Investment Group as well as other sponsors.

The Executive Committee Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Lan Xinguo, read out the congratulatory message from Chen Zhu, which warmly congratulated all parties on the launch of the summit. He said that he hoped this event will help to develop precision medical care through the exchange of ideas of the various scientists present.

President Chen’s welcome speech

Acting as Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the General Assembly, SUSTech President Pr. Chen Shiyi said that the summit’s purpose is to allow experts and academics to share the latest results of precision medicine, to discuss the new developments of the industry and to exchange on how new achievements in the future can impact the life sciences and public healthcare. He went on to offer his warm welcome to Professor James Watson, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

Pr. Chen went on to point out how miraculous the growth of Shenzhen has been, and how he hopes SUSTech can follow in the footsteps of the city to become a world-class research university and the decision to establish a medical research center will bear significant fruits to SUSTech, the industry and the city of Shenzhen.