On November 7, 2019,the "International Women's Health Research Project" cooperation agreement between Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wayne State University of the United States was officially signed at Tongji Medical College. Professor Marcus Zervos, Assistant Dean of School of Medicine of Wayne State University, Professor Gil Mor, Scientific Director, C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development,Professor Jianguo CHEN, Vice-President of HUST, Dean of Tongji Medical College and Professor Aihua LIAO, Dean of theInstitute of Reproductive Health, Tongji Medical College, attended the signing ceremony. Professor Shuiqiao YUAN of the Institute of Reproductive Health hosted the signing ceremony.

Professor Jianguo CHEN made comments for this ceremony firstly. He pointed out that Wayne State University has a deep cooperation foundation with several departments in HUST, and the first Confucius Institute hosted by HUST, "Wayne Confucius Institute" was established in 2008 at Wayne State University. Professor Gil Mor was hired as a visiting professor at HUST in 2015, and beingwork closely with the Institute of Reproductive Health since he was in Yale University. The signing of the Agreement on the International Women's Health Research Project actively promoted by Professor Gil Mor and Professor Aihua Liao will initiate a new process of collaborative research in the field of women's health between HUST and WSU. As an infectious disease expert,Assistant Dean Marcus Zervos visited the school of public health, affiliated Union Hospital and affiliated Tongji Hospital of HUST during the visit, which will open up scientific research cooperation and teacher-student exchanges in infectious diseases.Professor Jianguo CHEN hopes that more joint experimental platforms will be established between the two universities, and the cooperation and exchange will be expanded to different levels of medical science and even engineering. He firmly believes that the cooperation between the two universities can be promoted rapidly and has a brighter future.

As the representative of School of Medicine,Wayne State University, Associate Dean Marcus Zervos highly praisedthe research work in the medical field of reproductive health, public health, infectious diseases, etc., and hopes to further promote the medical schoolexchange and cooperationof both sides through the signing of this project.

Prof. Gil Mor and Professor Aihua Liao introduced the content of the “International Women's Health Project” and the processand progress of the cooperation, respectively. Since 2015,Prof. Mor and Prof. Liao have conducted substantive cooperation in scientific research cooperation, student training, international courses, and international conferences holding, and have obtained great achievements, including the publication of ten high-level papers.

Ruimin HU, deputy director of the International Exchange Office, said that this "Double Top-class" international exchange program could build scientific research cooperation between the two universities, especially in the medical field, and prepare a summer exchange program with the International Education College. Xiaofeng ZHAO, deputy dean of the School of International Educationof HUST, said that the School of International Education would further support the exchange of students between the two universities.She hoped that the Confucius Institute is not only a platform for language training, but also a platform for cooperation and exchange between the two universities.

Inthe afternoon, Junhua Liu, Dean of the Institute of International Education held a discussion with the delegation of WSU.They conducted a full exchange on the development of student exchange programs between the two universities.

The representative teachers and students from the International Exchange Center,the Institute of Reproductive Health,the School of International Education,the School of Public Health, affiliated Union Hospital, affiliated Tongji Hospital,participated in the Signing Ceremony.(edited by Shuiqiao YUAN and Chunyan LIU)