On July 9, the 2022 Global Summer School of Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University (VSPH-GSS 2022) themed Advancing Global Health in a Changing World commenced online. Seventy-eight students from China, Argentina, Australia, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and other countries and regions gathered online to start their four-day adventure with Tsinghua VSPH team to explore innovative solutions to future social, environmental and health challenges, with an aim of building a healthier and more sustainable world.

Professor Wang Kaibo, the Vice Dean of VSPH, delivered remarks during the opening ceremony, which was hosted by Li Tian, the Global Affairs Manager of VSPH.

Professor Wang’s opening speech featured the history and development of VSPH. Under the instruction of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the "Healthy China 2030" Strategy, VSPH was established in the mist of COVID-19 pandemic and was born to respond to national needs and to improve the health and wellbeing of the people. Wang highlighted that, in terms of talent training, VSPH not only attaches importance to professional knowledge, but also emphasized on improving their practical abilities. Wang conveyed his hope, that this global summer school would provide students from all countries with a platform of multidisciplinary exchanges on academic frontiers of public health.

Li introduced that this is the first time for VSPH to hold the global summer school. During the one-month registration, around 150 students from more than 20 countries and regions submitted their applications. Applicants include undergraduates, masters, doctors and employees. After careful screening by the summer school program team, 78 students were finally enrolled in the summer school with multi-disciplinary backgrounds. some of them have medical background, some others major in engineering, science, literature, economics, management, law and art. The student background also well reflects the cross integration and diversity.

At the end of the opening ceremony, students and teachers took a group photo.

The summer school will be carried out from July 9 to July 12, consisting of a lecture delivered by Margaret Chan, the Founding Dean of VSPH and the Emeritus Director General of the World Health Organization, as well as seven workshops taught by faculty members of VSPH. Topics of the programs cover sustainable development, mental health, healthy cities, climate change, health resource allocation, China's health system, health project evaluation and public health in the information age.

Edited by LI Tian, Pei Zeyuan, James Paul