Medicine-Engineering Integration Enters New Phase with Industry-Academia Collaboration

The School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), has established a Joint Teaching and Research Innovation Center with Wuhan United Imaging Surgical Co., Ltd. (UIS), marking a significant step forward in advancing medicine-engineering integration. The inauguration ceremony took place on June 14 at the Qiu Fazu Academic Hall.

Presided over by Prof. ZHENG Fang, Vice Dean the School of Basic Medicine, the event brought together over 80 faculty members, students, and corporate representatives. Mr. QIN Xuanbin, the Party Secretary of the School of Basic Medicine, and LI Dun, Chairman and CEO of UIS, jointly unveiled the center’s plaque amid enthusiastic applause. The company also donated the state-of-the-art teaching and research equipment to the college, with ZHAO Hu and SUN Hongyu, Vice President of United Imaging, formalizing the donation. Mr. MA Guobin, Deputy Director of the Alumni Office of HUST, presented a commemorative plaque to Li Dun in recognition of the company’s support.

In a move to deepen industry-academia collaboration, Mr. TIAN Desheng, Deputy Party Secretary of School of Basic Medicine, appointed three senior technical experts of UIS: Mr. Fang Wei (Software Algorithms Lead), Mr. Liu Bo (Technical Planning Lead), and Mr. Sun Xiaowei (Senior Clinical Product Manager)—as Enterprise Affiliated Researchers. They will contribute their expertise to curriculum development and talent cultivation.

Mr. QIN highlighted the “three leaps” in the partnership: In April 2023, two parties reached a cooperation intention; a formal agreement on a digital medical teaching platform was signed in October 2023, and a research delegation paid a visit to United Imaging in June 2024. He emphasized that anatomy, as a course, plays a critical role in medical education and pointed out that UIS’s technology will drive the transition from traditional specimens-based instruction to integrated virtual-real teaching methods.

Mr. LI elaborated on the expanded mission of UIS from diagnosis to treatment, emphasizing intelligent solutions across the surgical process. He confirmed that donated CT and C-arm equipment has been put into teaching, and multiple surgical robots have completed validation with the college’s support. The center will focus on developing digital anatomy teaching workflows and offering AI-medicine courses to go beyond traditional educational boundaries.

The ceremony concluded with a special lecture given by Mr. SUN Xiaowei on opportunities and challenges in medicine-engineering integration, encouraging students to embark on a journey of lifelong learning and innovation.

This collaboration exemplifies a multidisciplinary endeavor aimed at nurturing talents and driving medical technological progress. The School of Basic Medicine and UIS will continue to work together in promoting educational and scientific innovations.