Harvard Chan Public Health School and WeDoctor sign MOU

HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 27 March 2018 - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health("Harvard Chan School") and We Doctor Holdings Limited ("WeDoctor"), China's leadingtechnology-enabled healthcare solution platform, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") in Shanghai, China. As the Chinese government has been actively promoting public health reform to transform from a medical treatment-based model to a health and well-being-focused system, against this backdrop, the partnership will make use of the internet platform, big data collection and analysis, and artificial intelligence ("AI") to promote primary health care services, disease prevention, as well as medical poverty alleviation on the mainland. This is the first-ever cooperation Harvard Chan School has entered into with an internet healthcare platform in the Asia-Pacific region.

Under the MOU which has a term of five years, the two parties plan to jointly design an integrated healthcare delivery system built upon public-private partnership, innovative provider payment incentives, rational resource allocation, internet platform, and big data analysis. They will collaborate to develop an AI-powered platform for primary health care practitioners to deliver training, AI-assisted diagnosis, health and well-being management, and treatment for patients. In addition, the two parties will explore new internet solutions based on big data collected in different regions for the survey and prevention of serious health problems. Such big data analysis will facilitate better health care services in terms of quality and efficiency.

The Chinese government has implemented a series of reforms to the public health system in recent years. Its goal is to provide fair and accessible universal health care services to the Chinese population, with an increasing focus on the application of new technologies such as the internet platform and big data analysis. As introduced by Winnie Yip (叶志敏), Professor of Harvard Chan School and Director of China Health Partnership, Harvard Chan School has been engaged in education, research, and knowledge exchange with China for decades.

The MOU was signed by Michelle A. Williams, Dean of Faculty of Harvard Chan School, and Jerry Liao Jieyuan (廖杰远), Chairman of WeDoctor. The signing ceremony was attended by Wu Zhaohui (吴朝晖), President of Zhejiang University and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Yip, amongst other distinguished guests.

Professor Yip commented that the collaboration between Harvard Chan School and WeDoctor will deepen the school's institutional commitment to China for advancing people's health and well-being through effective and scalable policy innovations, systems design and implementation, and data science. 

WeDoctor is China's leading technology-enabled healthcare solution platform. With a list of acclaimed shareholders, among which are Tencent and Fosun, it has a current valuation of over USD5 billion. Prior to this collaboration, Harvard Chan School has received a donation of USD350 million from Morningside Group owned by the Chan family of the Hong Kong-based Hang Lung Group.

WeDoctor's platform connects its 110 million registered users with a network of 220,000 doctors and over 2,700 hospitals nationwide. As an industry leader in technology with specific expertise on IT-enabled health care, WeDoctor has an established innovative platform combining online and offline operations and has built a strategic framework in the smart health care sector. Going forward, combining Harvard Chan School's experience in the research of public health policies and China's health reform, and WeDoctor's and its partners' practical experience in China's online health care industry, the pair will work towards improving the health and health care standards for the Chinese population.

About Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health traces its roots to the last century. The School began as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, founded in 1913 as the first professional public health training program in America. From the start, faculty were expected to commit themselves to research as well as teaching. In 1946, the School became an independent, degree-granting body.

Today, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health work together as a community of leading scientists, educators, not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices.