China Medical Board (CMB)

General Introduction

The China Medical Board (CMB, www.chinamedicalboard.org) is a non-profit American foundation dedicated to advancing health in China and neighboring Asian countries through strengthening medical, nursing, and public health research and education. CMB’s work began in 1914 when it was created by the Rockefeller Foundation to manage philanthropic funding for this premier medical institution solidifying the modern medical sciences in China. In the first half of the 20th century, CMB focused exclusively on building the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). Most of this funding—the largest project investment in Rockefeller Foundation history—went towards the construction and development of PUMC. In 1928, the CMB was endowed as an independent American foundation in continuing to operationally support PUMC. In 1950, CMB withdrew from PUMC and China.

Starting in the 1950s, CMB expanded its capacity-building work into other Asian countries— Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Today, CMB remains active in mainland Southeast Asia, supporting universities to strengthen education and research in medicine, nursing, and public health.

In 1980, CMB accepted an invitation to return to China and has since expanded its support of medical education and research to more than a dozen medical universities. From 1980 to 2008, CMB invested strategically in medical research and education. It has been assisting 13 Chinese medical universities to strengthen their faculty, research, and education programs since 1981 and has recently extended eligibility for CMB support to several additional universities.

Since Dr. Lincoln Chen became the President of CMB in 2006, CMB focuses on advancing the field of health policy and systems sciences (HPSS), building capacity in health professional education (HPE), promoting tobacco control and directing resources to rural health.

Relationship with PUHSC

CMB established its partnership with PUHSC in early 1980s. By the end of 2013, it has provided funding support of over 20 million US dollarsto PUHSC’s near 70 projects in the field of HPSS, HPE, medical research, management, tobacco control, etc. Among all the $20,000,000 funds, $2,050,000 were allocated as matching funds for talent cultivation, research development, library construction, public health advancing and teaching management at PUHSC. PUHSC CMB Liaison Office at the Office of International Cooperation of PUHSC is in charge of the management work of all CMB-related projects at PUHSC.

Table 1. HPSS-related projects at PUHSC supported by CMB since 2007 (Total Amount: $4,484,707)

 

 

Project Title

Grant Number

Amount$

1

China and Global Health in the 21st Century—the Lancet Series Initiative

07-851

318,600

2

Alternative Models of Financial reimbursement for Health Services

08-903

300,000

3

Supplement grant for China and Global Health in the 21st Century—the Lancet Series Initiative

 

27,346

4

Preparing Work to Develop a PKU China Center for Health Development Studies

08-933

420,000

5

Social Determinants of Health

08-922

60,000

6

Developing a PKU China Center for Health Development Studies

09-981

884,000

7

The First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

10-000

95,000

8

Evaluating the Health Insurance Reform for Children’s Catastrophic Disease in Rural Beijing

10-008

25,000

9

Preparing meeting for the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

11-038

75,000

10

The Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

11-044

500,000

11

School-based Environmental Policy Intervention for Obesity in Children

11-064

149,860

12

Attraction and Retention of Health Workers in Poor Rural China in the Context of Health System Reform

CMB 09-991

10,000

13

Study on the Impact of the Zero-profit Pharmaceutical Policy on Township Health Centers’ Financial Performance in Rural China

CMB 09-991

10,000

14

Midwifery Human Resource and Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice in Urban and Rural Areas in China

HPSS

Seed Fund

10,000

15

Evaluating the Impact of the Payment Reform on Hospital Internal Incentive System: the Case of a General Public Hospital in Beijing, China

HPSS

Seed Fund

10,000

16

Research on the Effects of National Essential Medicine Policy in Primary Care Facilities in Hebei Provincea Case Study

HPSS

Seed Fund

10,000

17

A Longitudinal Study of the Performance of the NCMS: Rural Residents’ Perspective

HPSS

Seed Fund

10,000

18

The PKU-CMB Lab for Health Economics: Economics of Health Reform and Market

Competition in China

12-109

300,000

19

How does Provider Payment Method Enhance/Mitigate the Effects of Demand

Side Subsidies in Reducing Medical Impoverishment for Delivery Care

12-119

117,832

20

Evaluating the Impacts of DRGs Payment Reform in Beijing

12-120

101,889

21

Developing a PKU China Center for Health Development Studies

12-094

600,000

22

Funding Request from CMB to Support Participation of the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

12-097

144,000

23

Hosting Author Workshop of the Lancet China Issue 2014

13-146

0.618

24

Utilizing CHARLS to Analyze Policy Issues on Healthy Aging in China

13-154

30

Table 2: HPE-related projects at PUHSC supported by CMB since 2008 (Total Amount: $3,024,350)

 

 

Project Title

Grant Number

Amount$

1

University Alliance-based and Tutor -focused Professional Training for Community Nurses

08-887

175,000

2

Core courses in China's medical education reform

08-921

190,000

3

Hosting Commission Meeting for Health Professional Education in the 21st century

10-996

80,000

4

Leadership Building on Global Health for the Next Generation

10-013

340,000

5

Building Capacity and Sustainability for Doctoral Level Nursing Education

10-018

350,000

6

Adaptation of Global Commission Report on Lancet in China

11-046

285,000

7

A Nationwide Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Healthcare Students in China & Study on the Costs and Financing of China’s Higher Medical Education

11-083

319,500

8

Health Professionals Education and Qualification in Relation to Population Health Outcomes at the Country Level in China

12-121

450,000

9

Global Health Training, Research and Consortium

12-122

399,850

10

Development of Master-level Education for Advanced Clinical Practice Nurse in China-

--A Joint Program of CMB China Nursing Network

12-123

180,000

11

Study Tour about “Harnessing the Power of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for Health Professional Education in China”

13-147

180,000

12

Development of Public Health MOOCs on Epidemiology

13-171

75,000

Important Projects/Events at PUHSC

Peking University China Center for Health Development Studies (CCHDS)

Under the support of CMB, in 2010 PUHSC established Peking University China Center for Health Development Studies (CCHDS), a center of excellence in health policy and system sciences in China. CCHDS is pioneering a fully modern and international vision in serving the health development and reform in China and the world through academic research, education and training. Innovative operational mechanisms have been established to effectively nurture the highest quality work. World class scholars and researchers are being recruited (for more information http://www.cchds.pku.edu.cn/index.php).

The LancetChina Issue

In collaboration with CMB and the prestigious scientific magazine the Lancet, PUHSC hosted the launch of the first (in 2008) and second issue (in 2010) of the Lancet China Series and will host the launch of the Lancet China Issue 2014 in September 2014. The press conference for the launch of the first issue China and Global Health in the 21st Century—the Lancet Series was held at the Great Hall of the People.

The Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

PUHSC held the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research from 31 October to 3 November 2012. Over 1800 participants from 112 countries/regions attended the symposium. In total 5 plenary meetings, 135 parallel sessions, 10 luncheons and 30 satellite meetings were held.

Adaptation of Global Commission Report on Lancet in China

In order to study on the adaptation of Global Commission Report for Health professional Education in the 21st Century in China, the China Commission was founded under the support of CMB. Professor Yang Ke, Executive Vice President of Peking University and PUHSC is the chair.

Study Tour about “Harnessing the Power of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for Health Professional Education in China

Supported by CMB, PUHSC organized a study tour in September 2013 to the world famous universities in San Francisco and Boston in order to harness the power of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for health professional education in China. Delegation members include leader and officer from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, university leaders, deans of the School of Public Health and young faculties from PUHSC, PUMC, Fudan University and Sun Yat-sen University, President of CMB and officers from CMB. After the tour, projects for the 1st MOOC in public health were initiated in the four institutions at the end of 2013.

Main CMB Programs (under the Management of CMB Liaison Office at the Office of International Cooperation, PUHSC)

  1. CMB HPSS Open Competition for Research Projects
  2. CMB HPSS Collaborating Programs
  3. CMB HPSS Residency Program (for more information http://oic.bjmu.edu.cn/attach/0/130322101528195.pdf)
  4. CMB 09-991 Program
  5. CMB Seed Fund Project
  6. CMB Distinguished Professorships Awards
  7. CMB-Fudan University Summer School Program for Global Health 
  8. CMB Next Generation Fellowships (for more information www.iiebeijing.org/cmb/ng/ng.html)
  9. CMB Faculty Development Awards (for more information www.iiebeijing.org/cmb/fd/fd.html)
  10. CMB-London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine HPSS Master Program (for more information http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/funding/hpss.html)
  11. CMB-University of Washington Master Program of Public Health (MPH) in Global Health & PhD Program in Global Health Metrics & Implementation Science
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