Top Medical Professionals

The global epidemic is spreading, and China's efforts to respond effectively to the epidemic are evident to all, which makes the profession of doctors highly respected and the discipline of medicine highly valued, and we have ushered in a spring season of medical development. The progress of modern medicine has never been possible without the progress of basic medicine and the vigorous efforts of basic medical personnel training.

At this time, to take the road of independent training of basic medical talents, we must insist on facing the frontier of world science and technology, the main battlefield of economy, the major needs of the country and people's life and health, comprehensively implement the Party's education policy, implement the fundamental task of establishing moral education, follow the law of education, and accelerate the construction of high-quality basic medical talents training system. In terms of basic medical personnel training, how to achieve the "four directions", especially "towards people's life and health"? This is a major issue raised by the medical education sector in this era - the multiplication of challenges and the uncertainty caused by epidemics.

The development of clinical medicine fundamentally stems from the basic medical understanding of the nature and laws of life and disease phenomena.

The need for talents who dare to impact major medical science problems

Since the 20th century, clinical medicine has developed by leaps and bounds, and we are expected to enter the era of induced stem cell-directed development, xenogeneic organ transplantation, altered human fertility, and even gene editing. Practice shows that the development of clinical medicine and other disciplines fundamentally stems from the understanding of the nature and laws of life and disease phenomena by basic medicine.

Basic research is the source of scientific and technological innovation. Basic research in medicine is not only the basis and direction for developing innovative drugs and vaccines and other treatments but also the cornerstone for the development of disease diagnosis and prevention methods. Since the founding of New China and especially since the reform and opening up, China's medical and health care has made great development and progress, making important contributions to improving people's health and life expectancy.

However, it must also be seen that most of the innovative drugs and medical devices in China still originate from abroad. China's basic medical research field lacks a group of talents who dare to impact major medical scientific problems, especially "exploring" in no man's land, and there is a surplus of tracking and imitation but not enough original innovation, which makes the original "real problems, real problems, real solutions". Innovative basic research, the quality of its output still has a lot of room for improvement.

From the root of the problem, it is because the basic theoretical research cannot keep up with the source and the underlying things are not clearly understood, so how can we talk about cutting-edge innovation? Systematic and chain design in selection, training, evaluation, use, and guarantee, and vigorously cultivate and create a large number of basic research talents urgently needed for national innovation development, which is advocated by the state in recent years. As for the basic medical research talents urgently needed for the high-quality development of the national biomedical industry, we should also make great efforts to design a systematic and chain-like training system, so that they can be expected to take up important responsibilities.

Compared with clinical medicine majors, the number of outstanding students willing to choose basic medicine majors is still limited -

Self-selection, and long-term training, so that young talents stand out

Ten years of trees, a hundred years of people. Talent cultivation, especially the cultivation of top talents, must have the ideology of "success does not have to be in me, success must be in me". But unfortunately, compared with clinical medicine majors, the number of outstanding students who are willing to choose basic medicine majors is still limited. The number of young talents who choose basic medical research and teaching after graduating from clinical medicine is very rare. Based on this, some medical schools in China have set up specialties in basic medicine. Since 2018, basic medicine majors in a few universities have been included in the "Program for Training Top Students in Basic Sciences 2.0" implemented by the Ministry of Education. However, we still need to make great efforts to achieve effective results.

If the seed is not good, the harvest is not guaranteed. To cultivate excellent basic medical talents, we need to follow the law of education and the law of talent growth, establish an institutional mechanism based on trust, and empower the training bases of top talents to discover and select outstanding students on their own, so that those who are brave to challenge themselves and are interested in exploring medical mysteries and solving medical problems can stand out.

The main body of the school should also select, with a high sense of responsibility and mission, a group of outstanding teachers both inside and outside the school who are well qualified and profoundly accomplished, who have a sense of family and international vision, who are full of innovation and nurturing spirit, and who are indifferent to fame and the pursuit of excellence. We will take scientific and effective measures to motivate top students who have completed their undergraduate studies to pursue master's degrees or direct doctoral studies under the guidance of excellent supervisors or even directly recruit 8-year doctoral students, and follow up and train and use talents for a long time, and provide long-term and stable support for scientific and technological workers engaged in basic medical research at the policy and financial levels. We will provide long-term and stable support to scientific and technological workers engaged in basic medical research at the policy and financial levels, form a sustainable mechanism for cultivating basic medical talents, and lay out cutting-edge and disruptive technologies in advance so that Chinese basic medicine can have stronger autonomy and innovation.

The greatest characteristic of medicine is its uncertainty, and skepticism and criticism are always the life of medicine -

Improving academic style is the most urgent task for basic medical talents training

For those who are engaged in basic medical research, academic style is the life of academics. Without a good academic style, it is impossible to create first-class top-notch talents and make high-level research results. Impatience and utilitarianism are serious challenges to the cultivation of basic medical talents.

If scientists in an era and society focus on the pursuit of fame and status, how can the next generation start the scientific journey of seeking truth, reality, and beauty? Therefore, in the practice of cultivating innovative talents, the learning style of seeking truth and truthfulness should become cultivated rooted in the hearts of teachers and students and a self-consciousness that does not need to be reminded, encouraging free thinking, bold hypothesis, and serious evidence seeking. To do learning, we need to resist loneliness, resist temptation, "the bench should sit for ten years cold", "fast food" era of the quiet mind wins.

To this end, we need to work hard to create a "quiet" atmosphere. On this basis, we should reform "memory learning" which aims at instilling knowledge and skills and is oriented to examinations, and try to make students learn to acquire and create knowledge, apply and master knowledge, be good at summarizing and integrating all kinds of information, have independent opinions, and constantly develop and innovate; learn interpersonal communication and teamwork, and be a moral, moral and humanistic person. They learn to communicate and work in teams, and to be a person of high moral character, sound personality, and deep humanistic background.

Medicine is a human science. To develop new fields of medical research, overcome new difficulties in medical technology, and seek the best ways and methods to maintain human health and prevent diseases, we need to cultivate basic medical talents who are "knowledgeable, inquisitive, deliberate, discerning, and committed", and we need policy protection and effective investment.

At present, there is a wrong tendency that comprehensive universities generally regard medical schools as general secondary schools, and basic medicine lacks the right to speak. How to coordinate the resources of various disciplines, such as science and engineering, and humanities, to help cultivate basic medical talents? How to support basic medicine in terms of training funds, postgraduate targets, scientific research training, and innovative practice, academic exchanges, and social practice activities for the sustainable protection of people's health? This is a question that we must face squarely and think deeply about. The high attention of the state to the cultivation of basic discipline talents is the bottom and driving force for us to meet the challenges and scientific layout. We expect that shortly, there will be many talents in basic medicine, and they will be as brilliant as a river of stars.