CEO of Gates Foundation visits Beijing to support the development of GHDDI
Beijing, September 28th, 2017: Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), led a delegation to visit the Beijing Municipal Government, while being cordially received by YIN Hejun, Deputy Mayor of Beijing.
Following this March's official inauguration of the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI), a unique three-way collaborative initiative founded by BMGF, Tsinghua University and the Beijing Government, the parties met again to strengthen ties and set the course for GHDDI's future development.
Being the first independent, not-for-profit research institute of its kind in China, GHDDI strives to establish a transformative drug discovery and translational platform with advanced biomedical research and development capabilities - from the bench to the bedside.
During the meeting, Deputy Mayor Yin updated Dr. Desmond-Hellmann on GHDDI's key milestones achieved over the past six months. He reassured that the Government would continue to work closely with BMGF and Tsinghua University to provide funding, policy and institutional support to the Institute, in furtherance of Beijing's grand scheme to establish China's National Center for Scientific and Technological Innovation.
On behalf of the Gates Foundation, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann spoke highly of the support from Beijing in GHDDI's development. She also emphasized that GHDDI was BMGF's first foray into founding such an institute globally. This ground-breaking partnership, with Beijing and Tsinghua, will bring far-reaching significance to BMGF's future collaborations with China. The Foundation will continue to fully support the Institute, and explore new potentials to address and nurture innovations in China.
The parties also exchanged views on prospective collaboration in biomedicine, clean energy and other related fields.
Key representatives from the Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, BMGF Beijing Office, the Office of Technology Transfer of Tsinghua University, and GHDDI also joined the meeting.
