* Early this month, HUST Vice President Prof. Jianguo Chen gave an interview to Springer Nature,the world-leading research, educational and professional publisher, and shared his opinions about the importance of global collaborations and academic exchanges in higher education to finally overcome the COVID-19 epidemic. The article below is reproduced from Springer Nature website.
Springer Nature: Chinese doctors and researchers have done an excellent job in this epidemic. Could you share your opinion?
Jianguo Chen: We have seen countless health workers return to work, and many touching stories have emerged in the fight against the epidemic. Faced with the severe situation of the epidemic, researchers across the country have devoted their energies to the most urgent task of epidemic prevention and control. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, it took more than five months for scientists to finally identify the coronavirus. After the COVID-19 epidemic outbreak, Chinese researchers within one week identified the novel Coronavirus complete genome sequence, isolated the virus strain, and shared it with the world. Researchers combined scientific research with clinical practice to provide strong scientific and technological support for epidemic prevention and control. They turned their latest findings into papers and worked hard to apply the results of scientific research to the front-line of epidemic prevention and control. It is worth mentioning that the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine has achieved remarkable results in blocking the development of mild patients to severe patients. At the same time, Chinese researchers strengthened communication and exchanges with the World Health Organization and foreign research institutions, and actively carry out cooperative research, contributing Chinese wisdom to solving major global problems in the field of public health. China's years of scientific research capacity, talent pool, and technological products in the field of public health and medical health give us confidence and ability to finally overcome the COVID-19 epidemic.
Springer Nature: What impact has the COVID-19 outbreak had on your journal? How did you deal with it?
Jianguo Chen: Wuhan was the first city to report the epidemic outbreak. In line with the scientific epidemic prevention policy, Wuhan made great sacrifices in the epidemic. Since January 2020, each editor was self-quarantined at home in accordance with the epidemic prevention policy, but they were still normally working. As chief editor of the Current Medical Science editorial department, I led the editorial team to overcome the inconvenience and difficulties of homeworking, trying our best to do a good job in reviewing, editing, and publishing. We added a column on COVID-19 and solicited contributions from the medical staff. CMS timely reported the latest COVID-19 findings, epidemic information and disseminate scientific prevention and control knowledge, acting as a publicity coordinator for epidemic prevention and control, which will be of great guiding significance to COVID-19 clinical research and scientific prevention and control.
Springer Nature: How can Chinese doctors or researchers promote academic exchange with their foreign counterparts under the epidemic?
Jianguo Chen: In the face of the emerging COVID-19 epidemic, China is constantly strengthening understanding and updating diagnosis and treatment programs through exploration and practice. At the same time, we have been sharing our diagnosis and treatment experience with the international community since the very beginning of the epidemic. In the early stage of the epidemic, most countries were interested in the development of the epidemic and the characteristics of the epidemic in China. With the spread of the epidemic around the world and the number of confirmed cases in other countries increasing, China's experience in fighting the epidemic can be used for reference by other countries, such as the experience in the construction and operation of China's cabin hospitals etc. There are also issues of mutual interest, such as the epidemiological investigation and clinical features of COVID-19. These communications and exchanges help to raise mutual awareness of COVID-19 and play a positive role in the global response to the COVID-19 epidemic. CMS timely reported the latest COVID-19 findings, covering areas such as clinical features, laboratory testing, imaging findings, nursing consensus, and population psychological research. One of the papers, for example, “Clinical Characteristics of Children with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Hubei, China”, which was published in April 2020 (published online in March), reports the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 cases in children in Wuhan. There are relatively few cases of COVID-19 in children, and this paper provides a reference for the treatment of children with COVID-19. Current Medical Science (Formerly: Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology Medical Sciences), which is a comprehensive journal, has been committed to providing a platform for exchanges of medical research and focuses on the frontiers of science and medical hot spots. We will continue to promote academic exchanges between Chinese medical researchers and their foreign counterparts and sincerely serve medical researchers all around the world.
Jianguo Chen, the Editor-in-Chief of Current Medical Science, vice president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the dean of Tongji Medical College, a professor of pharmacology, a doctoral program supervisor, the leading scientist of a national 973 program, the head of a program supported by the Fund of Creative Research Groups of China, vice chairman of Chinese Pharmacology Association, an executive director of Chinese Medical Association.
Source: Springer Nature
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