The College of Graduate Health Sciences at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, in partnership with Harbin Medical University, Peking University Cancer Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, and the First Hospital of Qiqihar City, was successful in obtaining funding from the China Scholarship Council to support cohorts of 15 students from China each year for three years to enter and complete their PhD training at UTHSC.
The students will enter UTHSC having already obtained advanced degrees and are expected to focus on their research and complete their PhD requirements in approximately three years. The primary areas of research focus will be related to diseases often associated with aging and will span all six PhD programs in the college. These include biomedical engineering, biomedical sciences, health outcomes and policy research, nursing science, pharmaceutical sciences, and speech and hearing science.
This scholarship award is an expansion of the UTHSC College of Graduate Health Sciences’ existing individual training relationships with each of the China-based partner universities, now a consortium of university partners to enhance the training of young scientists in northeast China. In addition to student training, the UTHSC Postdoctoral Office is helping the partners establish postdoctoral training programs to further develop world-class researchers in the region.
“This is quite an accomplishment for our partners, UTHSC, and the College of Graduate Health Sciences,” said Donald Thomason, PhD, dean of the college. “The awards are made not only based upon the educational goals of the partners, but also on the reputation and quality of the education that is provided by the U.S. collaborator. The competition is very stiff for these awards, and we are proud to be a part of this project,”