USC Chan, Peking University Health Science Center, celebrate 10-year anniversary of China Initiative partnership
May 7, 2026

Collaboration has advanced the professional status, educational standards and workforce capacity of occupational therapy in mainland China.

Alumni Associations and Bodies China Initiative Global Initiatives

USC and PKUHSC leadership at the Apr. 26 celebration at Town & Gown of USC (Photo by Glenn Marzano)

Faculty and colleagues gathered at an April luncheon symposium to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the USC Chan China Initiative, a collaboration which has successfully advanced occupational therapy’s professional status, educational standards and workforce capacity in mainland China.

The China Initiative partnership was formally established by a 2016 memorandum of understanding between the USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and Peking University Health Science Center (PKUHSC). During the ensuing decade, the initiative has contributed to significant advancements in professional training, clinical standards and research development across China.

The faculty teams from USC and PKUHSC have together made more than a dozen site visits back and forth across the Pacific, and given numerous presentations and keynote lectures. Fifteen students earned clinical doctorate degrees in occupational therapy through the initiative’s dual-degree program, while two students have completed or are nearing completion of the PhD degree in occupational science.

China Initiative director Julie McLaughlin Gray, associate chair for academic, faculty and student affairs at the USC Chan Division, underscored the collaboration’s impact.

“Over the past 10 years, this partnership has demonstrated the transformative potential of sustained international collaboration grounded in a shared commitment to excellence in education, innovation and patient-centered care,” Gray said. “Together, we have developed programs to not only prepare highly skilled occupational therapists, but to also contribute to strengthening health care systems and improving quality of life for individuals and communities.”

The symposium’s program included remarks from USC Lifetime Trustee Ronnie C. Chan, whose landmark $20 million gift to USC set the initiative in motion. Chan gave remarks, followed by a panel discussion among affiliated faculty and presentations from China Initiative faculty and alumni. Topics included the initiative’s evolution, current projects and the team’s approach to cross-cultural curriculum development, clinical care and research projects.

USC leaders who spoke included Steven Shapiro, senior vice president for health affairs; Yang Chai, dean of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC; and Anthony Bailey, vice president for global and online initiatives.

PKUHSC Vice President Yida Tang, who is also vice president of Peking University Third Hospital and chief of the Department of Cardiology and the Institute of Vascular Medicine, also gave remarks. The current and previous presidents of the China Occupational Therapy Association, who have both been integral partners in many China Initiative projects, were in attendance.

Additional speakers highlighted how the China Initiative supported occupational therapy’s continued maturation in China, citing milestones such as the World Federation of Occupational Therapists’ 2018 vote to grant China full membership in WFOT; the 2020 adoption of educational accreditation standards specific to the Chinese context; and the 2023 approval by the Chinese Ministry of Education to designate rehabilitation therapy programs as professional, rather than academic, educational programs.

Looking to the decade ahead, Gray emphasized the value in continued collaboration between USC and PKUHSC.

“The China Initiative has facilitated the emergence of occupational therapy as a vital and increasingly recognized profession in China,” she said. “It’s exciting to celebrate a decade of this incredible partnership, and perhaps even more exciting to imagine what the future may have in store.”