XClose

UCL Global

Menu

UCL and Tsinghua strengthen global health links through high-level visit

29 April 2026

A senior UCL delegation visited Tsinghua University in Beijing to deepen collaboration in health, medicine and technology, and to progress the next phase of the growing UCL–Tsinghua health partnership.

Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, UCL Vice‑Provost (Health) speaking in Tsinghua

The visit was led by Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, UCL Vice‑Provost (Health), following an invitation from Tsinghua Medicine. It reinforced the deepening relationship between the two institutions, advancing shared priorities across research, education and healthcare innovation. 

During the visit, the delegation engaged with Tsinghua Medicine leadership, academics and students through a series of meetings, workshops and public events. This included visits to Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital and the Tianbei Community Healthcare Centre, where UCL colleagues were shown recent developments in AI‑enabled clinical and primary care services.  

The site visits offered insight into Tsinghua’s approach to integrating research, technology and healthcare delivery, and supported discussion on translational medicine and health system design. 

Researchers from both institutions also took part in joint academic workshops focusing on Computational Healthcare & Imaging and Hepatology. Together they explored areas of complementary strength, including AI agent hospitals, computational health and data science, radiology and imaging, biomedical engineering, organoids and advanced liver disease models.  

The workshops were designed to advance principal investigator‑level discussions and to identify practical next steps for collaboration, with a focus on maintaining momentum through joint seed funding. 

The visit saw the inaugural meeting of the UCL–Tsinghua Joint Executive Committee, which formalised the partnership’s governance structure and aligned institutional priorities. Discussions explored the potential strategic direction of a future phase of the partnership, including UCL’s engagement with Tsinghua’s new campus and hospital development, and opportunities to strengthen joint research activity, education pathways and mobility. 

Professor Ibrahim Abubakar also delivered a keynote address at the Tsinghua Medicine Town Hall and a public lecture on global health challenges, highlighting the importance of long‑term international collaboration in addressing complex health issues.  

The trip concluded with a visit to Ant Health, part of Alibaba Group, providing insight into the wider digital health and innovation ecosystem in China. 

Reflecting on the visit, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, UCL Vice‑Provost (Health), said: “Working with Tsinghua allows us to bring together complementary strengths in discovery science, clinical practice and technological innovation. Both institutions share a bold ambition to build a world-leading academic health system that can tackle the most pressing health challenges of our time. This partnership is about more than bilateral collaboration; it is about shaping the future of global health together.” 

Links