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É«ÏãÊÓƵVice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies Timothy Ford, Ph.D., was conferred a concurrent professorship at Nanjing University (NJU), one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China.

The honor was presented by NJU Vice President Dr. Yi Pan in a ceremony held at NJU's Gulou Campus, situated in the heart of Nanjing City, the capital of Jiangsu Province in the lower Yangtze River drainage basin.

Ford presented three lectures on NJU's two major campuses during his visit in October on the topics "Burden of Waterborne Disease," "Monitoring, Surveillance & Risk Assessment," and "Control of Waterborne Disease."

Ford has had a longstanding partnership with NJU.  The concurrent professorship was awarded in recognition of Ford's contributions to the university, and to encourage continued collaboration on environmental health sciences development.  Ford was academic chair of the International Workshop on Environmental Health and Pollution Control, held at NJU in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Yangtze River

In addition, Ford was a co-author with NJU Professor Shupei Cheng, director of NJU's Institute for Environmental Health, on three articles appearing in a special edition of the journal Ecotoxicology that focused on the Yangtze River (Cheng S, Ford TE (Eds). Special Issue on Source Water Risk Control. Ecotoxicology 2009; Vol 18).

Remarking on his concurrent professorship, Ford states, "I was deeply honored to receive the concurrent professorship from Nanjing University.  This honor will help us to build a strong partnership between É«ÏãÊÓƵ and Nanjing University and also allow us to work together in building research and training programs that begin to address major environmental health challenges from pollution of the Yangtze River.  I have been delighted by the hospitality shown to me at Nanjing University and extremely impressed by the scholarship of both faculty and students.  I look forward to many years of close and productive collaboration."

Faculty and Student Exchanges

As an official faculty member of NJU, Ford has a closer research partnership with his colleagues to address such issues as Yangtze River pollution, drinking water security, and attracting international funding.  The partnership also presents many opportunities for faculty and student exchange between both É«ÏãÊÓƵ and Najing University. 

Cheng will visit É«ÏãÊÓƵ this July to discuss: 1) topics for the next International Workshop on Environmental Health and Pollution Control; 2) collaborations on environmental health risks from the use of the Yangtze River as a source of drinking water; 3) publication opportunities; and 4) a developing collaboration between É«ÏãÊÓƵ, Nanjing University and the University of Hong Kong. 

Professor Cheng will be accompanied by his wife, Yunzhong Shi, an English Associate Professor of Chinese Traditional Medicine at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.  Professor Cheng and Associate Professor Shi’s visit will be an opportunity to explore additional collaborations in many areas of shared interest, including watershed research, public health, literature and medicine.