On December 22, 2021, on the first anniversary of the establishment of the Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development (PKU-iGHD), the “2021 Peking University Global Health and Development Forum: Human Health and Medical Innovation in the Era of Low Carbon Economy”was successfully held at Peking University.

Professor LIU Guoen, Distinguished Professor of PKU National School of Development and Dean of PKU-iGHD, chaired the opening ceremony. Prof. WANG Bo, Vice President of Peking University, delivered a welcome speech. Academician HAN Qide, Vice Chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Honorary President of China Association for Science and Technology, Co-Chair of the Advisory Council of PKU-iGHD, Kevin Michael Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, BI Jingquan, Executive Vice Chairman, China Center for International Economic Exchanges, Vice Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, Academician WANG Chen, President of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, LIU Yanhua, Director of China's National Expert Committee on Climate Change and former Vice-minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Academician ZHAN Qimin, Chair of the Board of PKU-iGHD, have delivered speeches at the opening ceremony of the forum.

After the opening ceremony, the Forum was rolled out in three modules. Keynote speakers include the following well-known experts and scholars in related fields at home and abroad (according to the order of speaking):

Health Development in the Post-Pandemic Era

- Victor Dzau, President of the United States National Academy of Medicine, International Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering;

- Mark McClellan, Distinguished Professor of Duke University, Leader of the U.S. team, U.S.-China Track II Dialogue on Healthcare, Former US FDA Commissioner;

- Jodi Sherman, Associate Professor, School of Medicine and School of Public Health, Director of Sustainability, Yale University;

- Kasim Kutay, Chief Executive Officer, Novo Holdings;

- Gauden Galea, WHO Representative in China;

- Erik Berglof, Chief Economist of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB);

- Angela Hwang, Group President, Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group;

- LIU Tingjun, President, Taikang Insurance Group.

Global Health and Low-Carbon Economic Transition

- GONG Peng, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Hong Kong;

- ZHU Tong, Dean of the PKU College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences;

- Guido D. Giacconi, Vice President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China;

- XUE Jinjun, Professor, Economic Research Center, Nagoya University, Co-Director of Institute of Global Low-Carbon Economy;

- David Rolnick, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, McGill University; Founder and President of “Climate Change AI”;

- ZHENG Xiaoying, Dean of PKU-APEC Health Science Academy, Professor (Joint Appointment) of PKU Institute for Global Health and Development.

Medical Innovation for Sustainable Development

- MAO Qunan, Director-General, Department of Planning and Information, National Health Commission of PRC; Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Chairman of the Executive Committee, RDPAC;

- XU Ming, Advisor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria;

- Christine Zhou, Senior Vice President & President of Region China, Novo Noridsk;

- Mobasher Butt, Global Medical Vice President, Babylon Health;

- Seth Zhang, Founder and CEO, MediTrust Health;

- Pius S. Hornstein, Country Lead, Sanofi Greater China;

- Pavol Dobrocky, Head of Human Pharma, Greater China at Boehringer Ingelheim.

Professor ZHANG Haibin, Associate Dean of PKU School of International Studies and PKU Institute for Global Health and Development, Professor QIN Xuezheng, Associate Dean of PKU School of Economics and PKU Institute for Global Health and Development, KANG Wei, Managing Director of the R&D-based Pharmaceutical Association Committee (RDPAC), China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (CAEFI) hosted keynote speeches and roundtable discussions respectively.

Domestic and international academic, political, and non-governmental organization experts in the fields of global health, health economics, medical innovation, environmental science, public health, etc., enterprise representatives, and teachers and students from PKU-iGHD participated in various forms physically and virtually, and exchanged insights on global climate change response measures and the optimization of human health systems, highly concerned issues by the domestic and international communities. The forum focused on the “Healthy China” strategy and the “Dual Carbon” strategic goals, centered around the topics of climate change, environmental protection and human health, and aimed to explore the development trend of human health in the post-COVID pandemic era, deeply analyze the relationship between green low-carbon and human health, share research progress and key milestones driven by scientific innovations, and to explore the path of a low-carbon economy driven by medical innovations.

Human health is closely related to global climate change. As carbon emissions and human health issues caused by global warming have become a consensus, the urgency of global health, ecological balance, and low-carbon economic transformation and development issues has become increasingly prominent, and in a global environment continuously impacted by the COVID pandemic, how to use systematic green and low-carbon development perspectives to carefully optimize the human health system to improve the health of the population is the focus of this forum, as well as PKU-iGHD’s relentless efforts to improve global health. Since its inception a year ago, the PKU-iGHD has taken “One World, One Health” as its vision, always adheres to an international perspective and first-class standards, gives full play to the advantages of interdisciplinary, forges ahead, expands cooperation, actively contributes to people’s health and social economy, and efficiently promote global health and sustainable development. The convening of this forum provides inspiration and sparks ideas for medical innovation and transformation of a green and low-carbon economy in the post-COVID pandemic era.  

Many media such as People’s Daily and CGTN reported on this forum.