Dear alumni,
AAFMUA has been functioning successfully since its inception 9 years ago. The organization reached a significant milestone in the summer of 2006 when it established The Education Foundation. Thanks to the support, enthusiasm, and encouragement of our alumni, AAFMUA has been able to provide scholarships to students with financial hardships in our Alma Mater, Fujian Medical University (FJMU).
During our fund-raising campaign, many of our alumni, such as Drs. Catherine (Jialing) Li, Ling Zheng, Tongchuan Li, Peihong Hsu, Yiwu Huang and Ronglan Zheng greatly encouraged fellow alumni to participate and contribute to our program. In 2006, 56 alumni donated $9480 (including a $1150 donation from one time donors) and 46 alumni also made their annual financial commitment to this program (total annual committed donation of $7600). In 2007, in addition to 46 pledged annual donors, 4 other alumni also made contributions. The Education Foundation received a donation of $9175 and 1000 RMB. It is a great honor for the organization to recognize several alumni (Ling Zheng, Zheng-Bo Huang, Yanyu Sun, Lijia Chen, Xian Chen/Hui Liao, Lizhen He, Taosheng Huang, Shi-Du Yan/Xi Chen and Renzhi Zhou) who significantly increased their donations in 2007. I am also very grateful to Dr. Tongchuan Li who successfully raised 10000 RMB from his relatives in China. Earlier this year, I was also successful in raising $5000 in funds for our Foundation from a company in New York.
Due to our successfully fundraising, the Foundation provided 28 Scholarships in 2006 and 30 scholarships in 2007. Using the scholarship candidate selection criteria set by the Education Foundation, FJMU screened the candidates and posted them for public opinions for a three day period. The successful candidates were then selected and recommended to us. AAFMUA appreciates and places in high regard this honest, fair and successful selection process. All candidates were highly qualified and two thirds of them were among top 10% of their classes. All candidates have marked financial hardship. Thanks to the diligent efforts of Co-directors, Drs. Yishun Lin and Tongchuan Li as well as Associate Director, Ronglan Zheng, the Foundation successfully organized the candidate evaluations and subsequently the vote for scholarship recipients by the Board of the Trustees. Scholarship recipients who were eventually selected each received 2000 RMB. In order to guarantee that scholarships would be used exclusively to further each recipient’s education, AAFMUA has discussed this issue with FJMU at length. The scholarships awarded have been used to pay for the student’s tuition.
Drs. Tongchuan Li, Jizhen Lin (Associate Director of the Foundation) and I also twice attended the award ceremony for the Shen Yun-Ying Scholarship held in FJMU. During our visit to FJMU we learned that our work and our efforts were highly appreciated by both the students as well as the university. The Scholarship is the first over-seas scholarship directly supporting outstanding students with financial hardship in Fujian. The scholarship will not only financially support some students in need but also encourage other students to study hard and more actively participate in the social activities. The scholarship further demonstrates our commitment and devotion to our Alma Mater. Our mission has been met with great success.
AAFMUA owes its success to many of FJMU’s alumni. During our fund-raising campaign, we were greatly touched by our supporters’ generosity and kindness. In addition to their financial support, their constructive criticisms and suggestions have helped us to significantly improve our work because our efforts are to continue to provide assistance on a long-term basis. We know that many students in FJMU need our help. We hope that our continued efforts will in some way recognize those students whose diligence should be rewarded with greater opportunities for their future education. We are confident that more and more alumni will join us in this endeavor, helping us to achieve greater success in the future.
On May 12, 2008, a catastrophic 8.0 magnitude earthquake crushed the Sichuan Province of China, resulting in over 70,000 casualties and many more injured and homeless. The news of the earthquake shocked and saddened us all. Understanding and trusting in the love we have for humanity and for China, we hoped to make every effort to aid in relieving the suffering of the earthquake victims. Thus, we appealed to all of our alumni in asking for their donations so that collectively, we could support the rescue and recovery efforts in China. In response to the AAFMUA appeal, 40 families among our alumni donated to our earthquake relief fund. Their donations totaled $13,300 (www.fjmufriends.com). We are also very grateful that many of our alumni and their families including Boqing Chen, Tongchuan Li, Ling Zheng, Yishun Lin, Peihong Xu, Yiwu Huang, Ronglan Zheng, Yu Teng etc., who had donated to alternative relief organizations, made additional contributions to AAFMUA to show their support for our campaign and their concern for those affected by the disaster. We also discovered that many of our alumni, although not participating directly in our campaign, had made donations towards the earthquake efforts through the American Red Cross, China Red Cross and many other charities, local churches, Chinese schools, and their work places. These responses were overwhelming and touched us all. In regards to these inspiring displays of kindness, we wish to emphasize that regardless of the amount donated by each family, every dollar reflects both deep sympathy and great human compassion. All of our donations have been forwarded to the Chinese Consulate General in New York and sent to the areas affected by the earthquake (www.fjmufriends.com). We sincerely thank all of you for your generosity and enthusiasm to help others in need.
Promotion of the academic exchange between Fujian Medical University and research institutes in U.S.A has been another important mission for AAFMUA. As in the past, many of our alumni continued to contribute to this cause by giving research seminars, establishing research cooperation, and training postdoctoral fellows. These alumni include, but are certainly not limited to, Drs. Lurong Zhang (Professor, University of Rochester), Shi-du Yan (Associate Professor, Columbia University), Zao-Dung Ling (Associate Professor, Rush University), De-fu Zeng (Associate Professor, Beckman Institute at City of Hope National Medical Center), Lieping Chen (Professor of Johns Hopkins University), Ke-he Ruan (Professor, University of Houston) and Ken Chen (Director of Transgenic mouse facility, Albert Einstein Medical College) Zhenmin Lei (Associate Professor, University of Louisville), Shi-Fang Yan (Assistant Professor, Columbia University), Jizhen Lin (Associate Professor, University of Minnesota), Taosheng Huang (Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine), Tongchuan Li (Senior Scientist and Project Manager of Pharmacology, Cubist Pharmaceutical) and Zhiqiang Zhang (Senior Scientist, Merck Research Institute). It is my great pleasure to say many thanks to Dr. Jizhen Lin who has been cooperating with the research lab in the Affiliated Union Hospital of FJMU and trained several postdoctoral fellows in his lab in past few years. I would also like to express our deep gratitude to Dr Defu Zeng, who has recently trained a postdoctoral fellow from FJMU who has published two papers in the prestigious international journals, PNAS and Blood. He also referred an alumna from FJMU to our non-alumni Guest Professor, Dr. Ren-Jiang Lin (Professor, Beckman Institute at City of Hope National Medical Center) for postdoctoral training. Recently he also worked with Dr. Ren-Jiang Lin and successfully organized an international research symposium in FJMU, and brought a research team to FJMU and established greater scientific collaboration and dialogue between groups. He also has established a joint Ph.D training program with President Yuanzhong Chen of FJMU and will soon be accepting a PhD student to study under his tutelage in his lab. AAFMUA greatly appreciates all the academic contributions our alumni have made to FJMU. We strongly believe that these academic exchanges will significantly benefit both FJMU and research institutes in United States.
Many of our alumni have now become experienced clinicians in the U.S. after many years training and practice. They have also been actively participating in our clinical exchange program and selflessly sharing their experiences with the alumni in FJMU. In past two years, as guest professors of FJMU, Drs. Jingsheng Zheng, Fan Lin, Peihong Xu, Yanghen Fu, Yangming Chao, and Defu Zeng have given seminars, run clinical rounds, trained clinicians, and established greater clinical collaboration with the affiliated and/or teaching hospitals of FJMU. Dr. Jingsheng Zheng, a cardiologist and a long-time collaborator with Fujian Provincial Hospital, has also been a strong supporter of AAFMUA. Dr. Yanghen Fu has on multiple occasions visited the affiliated hospital and introduced up-to-date clinical information to our alumni in FJMU. Dr. Defu Zeng has not only supported the academic exchange but also actively participated in the clinical training program. He introduced Dr. Jianda Hu (Professor of Hematology, FJMU) to the City of Hope National Medical Center, one of the best hematology and transplantation centers in U.S. for advanced clinical study. I would like to express a sincere thank to Dr. Fan Lin who lately successfully trained a pathologist, Dr. Wen Jin, from the Affiliated Union Hospital of FJMU. Dr. Wen Jin has become a fine needle aspiration (FNA) expert in Fujian, and probably also in China, as this very powerful diagnostic tool has not yet been well developed in China. Dr. Fan Lin also gave FNA lectures in FJMU, and in conjunction with Dr. Wen Jin, also recently co-sponsored an FNA training course in FJMU. I am so sure that Dr. Lin’s contributions will produce profound effects on clinical diagnosis in China.
We are very happy that as a member of the cooperative alumni working team, AAFMUA has been able to directly or indirectly support the above activities. Both our alumni and FJMU greatly appreciate these efforts.
In December 2007, FJMU celebrated its 70th anniversary. AAFMUA organized a delegation of ten alumni to attend the celebratory activities in FJMU. Drs. Lieping Chen, Shi-du Yan, Taosheng Huang, Zhenmin Lei, Zao-Dong Lin, Tongchuan Li, Jizhen Lin, Peihong Xu, Ronglan Zheng and Ruoqing Huang made this exciting trip. These representative alumni in the United States visited FJMU to express our gratitude and respect for our Alma Mater. During our visit, Drs. Lieping Chen, Shi-du Yan, Taosheng Huang, Zhenmin Lei, Zao-Dong Lin, and Tongchuan Li also gave research seminars in the scientific symposium. Their scientific contributions had undoubtedly left a deep impression on the attendees’ minds. We also spoke with the leadership of FJMU, met students receiving Shen Yunying Scholarships, and visited research laboratories. We were deeply encouraged by the feedback we received during our visit regarding the extent to which our work was benefiting those of FJMU and its students. We are very grateful for all the efforts of all our alumni. No contribution to AAFMUA has gone unnoticed.
Many of our alumni in the United States are very successful in their careers, whether it is in medicine or not. Thanks to the efforts of our Vice President, Dr. Yishun Lin, in December, 2006, we were very proud to introduce 3 outstanding alumni on our website (www.fjmufriends.com). Dr. Jinxing Yu, an FJMU graduate of Class 1983, is currently the Director of Oncology Imaging and Associate Professor of Radiology, Medical College of Virginia (MCV) hospital, Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr, Yu has been very productive in his research and has four funded clinical research projects. He has served as a reviewer for the American Journal of Roentgenology. He has been very active in AAFMUA activities, promoting clinical exchanges with FJMU as well as other institutes in Shanghai and Beijing. Dr. Ling Zheng, also a graduate of Class 1983, is an established Acupuncturist in Manhattan, New York. He has been very active in the Acupuncturist professional community and the community of FJMU Alumni in the U.S. In collaboration with BAUS (Buddhism Association of U.S.) in the Chuang-Yen Monastery of New York, Dr. Zheng and his acupuncturist volunteer team had offered more than 7200 sessions of free acupuncture treatment for more than 3500 patients of the monastery. As a founder and current President of American Traditional Chinese Medical Society, he recently successfully organized an international conference of traditional Chinese medicine in New York City. His significant contribution in traditional Chinese medicine has been highly regarded. As one of the founding members of AAFMUA, Dr. Zheng has devoted himself to the missions of the organization. Dr. Zheng served as Vice President of AAFMUA from 2000 to 2002 and as Treasurer of the organization from 2000 to 2008, overseeing financial operations and actively organizing the AAFMUA activities in New York City. Dr. Wen Lin (Shi Yu), a graduate of Class 1988, is currently a professional novelist, essayist, playwright and poet. She has published many novels and poems in both China and the U.S. and has received multiple awards for her work. She is one of the founders of Wen Xin She (文心社), the largest Chinese novelist organization of North America, and has served as Chairwoman of that organization for many years. She also serves as a columnist on several Chinese newspapers in North America including QiaoBao (侨报), Ming Bao (明报), and Xingdao Daily (星岛日报). AAFMUA is very proud of these alumni and will continue to introduce these exceptional alumni to our alumni community as well as to the world.
Serving our alumni is one of the important missions of AAFMUA. Dr. Yishun Lin, Vice President and webmaster of AAFMUA has been attentively updating news events for the web (www.fjmufriends.com). Keeping our website functioning and user-friendly is undoubtedly an extremely time consuming task that requires great expertise. Because of his enthusiasm, diligence, and support for our cause, FJMU alumni, either in the U.S. or abroad, are through his web updates becoming increasingly knowledgeable about both our organization and our Alma Mater. Furthermore, AAFMUA has established an alumni directory so that our alumni can become more intimately connected. Due to family relocations or job changes, some of the information in the alumni directory has become outdated. However, AAFMUA has been continuing to as best as we can keep our directory as up to date as possible. I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank Drs. Ronglan Zheng and Yanyu Sun for their excellent work on the recent alumni directory update. In the past two years, Dr. Ronglan Zheng, Peihong Hsu, Shi-du Yan, Tongchuan Li and I organized several alumni social events. These events provided an excellent opportunity for alumni to reconvene. It also allowed for us to welcome new alumni and further promote our friendships and relationships. Recently, a reunion was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan by Drs. Xian Chen, Liao Hui, Yishun Lin and Ling Zheng, where many classmates of Class 1983 in the U.S. spent unforgettable days and nights. There, they celebrated their 25th graduation anniversary. The reunion was a great success.
Before concluding my work report, I would like to once again express my deep gratitude for those who have risen to become leaders in our organization, and to all the alumni for their efforts. I have no doubt in my mind that what we have collectively achieved results entirely from your hard work and contributions. Your support and optimism largely constitute and capture the spirit of AAFMUA and its missions. I also would like to recognize those alumni whose names have not been mentioned in the report; without their active participation in our events, without their time and their financial support our organization could not have achieved the level of success that I can proudly say we have today. We continue to encourage and welcome all our members to participate in future AAFMUA events and remind all of you that your comments and concerns are met with great respect and consideration, your suggestions and feedback will only continue to help us improve our work. I hope that we continue to work together in the future as we have in the past as a strong and unified front, reaching for the same goals and working for the same ideals. Thank you.
Ruoqing Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
AAFMUA President ( March 2006—June 2008)