Professor Andrew Moran and China's leading experts in cardiovascular disease discuss the effects of air pollution on public health

November 15, 2018

On November 15, Columbia Global Centers | Beijing invited leading experts in cardiovascular diseases from the U.S. and China to talk about effects of air pollution on cardiovascular health and current features of CVD Epidemiology and implications in China.

Professor Lawrence R. Stanberry, Associate Dean for International Programs and Director of the Global Health Initiative at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, first gave a general introduction on Columbia University and the University's Medical Center.

Professor Andrew E. Moran, Associate Professor of Medicine, introduced his collaborations with Chinese scholars. Professor Moran has been working with Dr. Dong Zhao and Dr. Dongfeng Gu since 2006. He pointed out that China's dramatic aging of society and urban migration have caused the increasing needs of medical treatments and changing of health situation. One of the achievements of his collaborations is the projection of cardiovascular morbidity. Professor Moran said that with the improving access to cardiovascular drugs and regulatory support, there are likely to be less than 800 thousand cardiovascular cases in China.

Dr. Dongfeng Gu is the Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Vice President of Fuwai Hospital. He has led large observational and interventional studies in both the genomic fields and epidemiology that have explored the risk factors associated with hypertension, coronary artery disease and what impacted prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in populations. Dr. Gu said that Chinese scholars are closely working with foreign experts to create a model to predict and reduce cardiovascular morbidity & mortality, taking air pollution as a major factor.

Professor Dong Zhao is the Deputy Director of the Beijing Institute of Heart, Lung & Blood Vessel Diseases (BIHLBD) and Director and Professor of the Department of Epidemiology of Beijing Anzhen Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University. She is an expert on epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases. Professor Zhao highlighted nine characteristics of the cardiovascular disease in China, including 1) atherosclerosis has become more common; 2) the mortality of cerebral apoplexy is decreasing; 3) regional variations in IHD are fairly great due to different life style and environment; 4) high cardiovascular morbidity due to aging; 5) increasing in moderate type of CVD; 6) higher prevalence of TIA with lower awareness of treatment; 7) out-of-hospital deaths of CVD ; 8) Chinese lifestyle as one risk factor of CVD; 9) low awareness of treatments to Hypertension.

During the Q&A session, Professor Gu said the health industry has received increasing attentions from the public; at the same time, more sterling teenagers are willing to go to the medical school.

More than 50 people attended the event, and more than 156,000 people watched the event online. The event received several encouraging feedbacks from the audience. One student from Shanxi Medical University said it is a life-changing opportunity for him to meet and discuss with leading figures in cardiovascular disease. He was enlightened and is more clear about his future research area.