Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Builds Unique Jefferson Link to Hospital In China

An innovative agreement signed on behalf of the University by Jefferson Medical College’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery points the way for Jefferson to be a major healthcare conduit from the United States to China.

Signing the agreement with the President and Vice President of the EENT (Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat) Hospital of the Shanghai Medical University was the purpose of a site visit to the Shanghai facility by William M. Keane, MD, and Jay L. Rothstein, PhD. Dr. Keane is Professor and Chairman, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Jefferson Medical College (JMC) and Dr. Rothstein is Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Immunology and Head of Otolaryngology’s Research Laboratory, JMC.

A Productive Trip
While there, Dr. Keane performed three complex surgical procedures and delivered lectures on sinus disease and head and neck oncology. Dr. Rothstein helped establish a research laboratory focusing on hearing loss disorders and gave lectures on the state of otolaryngology research on this and related topics.

The pair made the trip at the invitation of Zheng Min Wang, MD, Hospital President and Professor and Chairman of Surgery, and Sheng Zi Wang, MD, Hospital Vice President and Associate Professor of Surgery. Dr. Sheng Zi Wang had spent a year working with Dr. Rothstein at Jefferson’s Otolaryngology Research Laboratory, where Jeffersonian knowledge and expertise impressed her so much she encouraged future collaboration between the two institutions.

Among joint efforts called for by the signed agreement are research in molecular otolaryngology and future exchange visits.

Significant for Jefferson
In stressing the significance of the agreement, Dr. Keane explains that Shanghai’s EENT Hospital is “the only specialty surgical hospital in all of China, attracting inpatients and outpatients from all over the nation for care.”

The key benefits to Jefferson from such a large volume of patient numbers are “the opportunity to learn about diseases we don’t normally see and, for research, access to specimens it would take years to accumulate here, facilitating the study of genetics in cancer risk,” Dr. Rothstein explains.

While China is rapidly developing, the building of new hospitals and healthcare support lag far behind, both Jefferson doctors say.

Because of the Shanghai hospital’s importance and stature nationally, the agreement presents Jefferson with the opportunity to support healthcare leadership for all of China, Dr. Keane says. “Our presence there is one more example of JMC Dean Joseph Gonnella’s philosophy of international outreach by Jefferson,” Dr. Keane says. Dean Gonnella believes in Jefferson’s role as a conduit for the export of American technology and healthcare expertise. It’s clear that China’s leaders are looking to the United States for such expertise, and he is pleased that Jefferson’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery is being asked to participate.

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