Nov. 3, 2008 – Bloomington, Minn. – Northwestern Health Sciences University is creating an exchange
program with Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
(TUTCM) in Tianjin, China. As of today, China does not have any chiropractic schools, despite having chiropractic practitioners.
The program is scheduled to begin in September 2009.
As of right now the specific plans are still in the works, but a
commitment has been made between the two universities to collaborate
educationally. According to Mark McKenzie, MOm, LAc, dean of the
Minnesota College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Northwestern
is working with an exceptional school in China. “Tianjin University
of Traditional Chinese Medicine has one of the largest Traditional
Chinese Medicine hospitals in the world. We hope to have Northwestern
students observe there this spring,” he says.
"In addition to the exchange program, TUTCM has also expressed signicant interest in the chiropractic profession," states McKenzie.
The initial connection with TUTCM began because Northwestern has
three faculty members who graduated from the school, including: Wei
Liu, LAc, BMed, professor; Huan Ma, MMed, PhD, associate professor;
and Tao Gong, LAc, MS, associate professor. Dr. Ma has played a very
instrumental role in establishing and coordinating this program. His
mentor and former PhD advisor, Dr. Zhang Boli, is the current
president of TUTCM.
“Tianjin is a world-famous traditional Chinese medicine
university,” says Dr. Ma. “This can open huge opportunities for
our students, and because of this, we wanted to create ties with
Tianjin University.”
For those students who are unable to make it all the way to China,
Northwestern also hopes to offer distance learning courses with
Tianjin University. As for right now, video conferencing capabilities
are in mind; future plans may include Tianjin purchasing a
presentation capture system similar to Mediasite, which is used at
Northwestern.
“In addition to the exchange program, TUTCM has also expressed
significant interest in the chiropractic profession,” states
McKenzie.
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