Mow Appointed to Advisory Board
02/25/2008
Van C. Mow, Stanley Dicker Professor of Biomedical Engineering and department chair, is one of three U.S. professors named to the Advisory Board of the newly established Med-X Research Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). The Med-X Research Institute was formed as a result of the merger of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Second Medical University and their 12 affiliated hospitals.
Both SJTU and Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science are exploring academic collaborations with educational institutions globally. “As part of our long-range planning effort,” said Interim Dean Gerald A. Navratil, “we have established a 17-person Global Development Team, under the aegis of the School’s Board of Visitors, to explore educational and research opportunities world-wide. This appointment of Professor Mow advances the efforts of this team.” Professor Mow and Board of Visitors Chairman Emeritus James M. Li ’68, ’70, ’76, a managing director of Goldman Sachs, are co-chairs of this initiative to bring current and ongoing individual international collaborations into a cohesive program that will advance and explore future international partnerships.
SJTU, one of the top five universities in China, is more than 100 years old and has educated some of China’s top scholars and leaders, including former President Jiang Zemin. The Institute is a strategic initiative of SJTU to create world-class research at the University. It will support multi-disciplinary research in emerging medical and technological fields as well as modern instrumentation, equipment and systems and expects to attract outstanding students to train as the next generation of researchers and leaders.
In appointing Dr. Mow to the Advisory Board, Med-X Institute cited his “exceptional outstanding research track record, vision, experiences and international reputation.” The other U.S. advisors are Professor Shu Chien, M.D., University Professor at the University of California at San Diego, who received his Ph.D. from Columbia, and 1997 Nobel Laureate in physics Steve Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and professor of physics and professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley.