Webster Attends 1st IRCTO Board Meeting and International Forum
The inaugural board meeting of International Research Center for Translational Orthopaedics（IRCTO）was successfully held at the Orthopaedic Institute of Soochow University on the morning of November 15th, 2016, in Suzhou, China. Prof. Huilin Yang (Chinese Director of IRCTO) from the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Prof. Thomas J. Webster (Overseas Director of IRCTO) from Northeastern University, Prof. Lei Yang (Chinese Associate Director of IRCTO) from Soochow University, Prof. David A. Stout (IRCTO International Coordinator) from California State University, Long Beach, and 9 other IRCTO members attended the meeting.
The meeting opened with a friendly welcome by Prof. Huilin Yang where he introduced the primary mission of IRCTO; to develop cross-disciplinary research through strong international collaborations. Profs. Lei Yang and David A. Stout reported on the progress in assembling the organization structure and on-going projects since IRCTO was found in October 2015.
Proceeding the morning meeting, IRCTO members traveled to Changzhou City to attend the 2016 IRCTO International Forum of Translational Orthopaedics—endorsed by IRCTO, Changzhou Municipal Technology Bureau, and the Changzhou Science and Technology Association—and the opening ceremony of IRCTO Changzhou Branch at the Changzhou University, hosted by Prof. Linhong Deng from Changzhou University. The opening of IRCTO Changzhou Branch was warmly welcome by Prof. Guohong Dai, Vice-President of Changzhou University and local government officials of Changzhou City, where Prof. Huan Zhou was appointed as the first Principal Investigator (PI) of the IRCTO Changzhou Branch. During the Forum, Prof. Huilin Yang, Prof. David A. Stout, and Prof. Sarit B. Bhaduri from the University of Toledo delivered keynote addresses on the frontier topics in the field of translational orthopedics.
IRCTO was founded in Suzhou, China in 2015, and headquartered at Soochow University. IRCTO is an agglomerate of +20 research faculty and universities around the world dedicated to bringing orthopedic research to the bedside. Through the IRCTO we lead international support, policy change, and recruitment team in strengthening international research collaboration between industry, universities, faculty, labs, researchers and students.