Peking Union Medical College Hospital is reflecting on its 100-year history and aiming to advance global healthcare in future, Du Juan reports.

Peking Union Medical College Hospital is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding and its legacy of openness and international cooperation, while pledging to carry this spirit forward in the coming years.

"Our duty is to provide the public with the most benevolent and loving care alongside top medical acumen," hospital president Zhang Shuyang says.

"It's an honor to witness the hospital's 100th anniversary. And each of us should make our own efforts to advance China's healthcare."

PUMCH, which is one of China's most prestigious medical institutions, celebrated its centenary on Sept 16. Its founding featured about 280 international health experts participating in a weeklong academic exchange.

One hundred days before the anniversary celebration, the hospital signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Medical Board that is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to expand academic collaborations in such areas as faculty development, residency training and enhancement of the China Nursing Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals.

"The signing is significant," Zhang says.

"The hospital and the CMB have a shared history. This cooperation is the extension of the friendship between the two sides and will actively promote communication between China and the United States."

Zhang said at the signing ceremony, "The CMB has always been our strongest friend and collaborator throughout the hospital's history."

CMB president Barbara Stoll says, "Even with their bold vision for the future, the founders of our respective institutions couldn't have predicted the enormous changes over the past century or imagined that PUMCH of today-ranked No 1 in China-would be a shining light for medicine throughout the world."

China's National Health Commission has designed PUMCH as one of the national referral centers, offering diagnostic and therapeutic care for complex and rare disorders; a national demonstration base for higher medical education and standardized residency training; and a core national center for clinical research and technological innovation.

For 11 consecutive years, PUMCH has topped the China hospital rankings released by Fudan University's Hospital Management Institute.