Photogallery of Patuzzi China visit

CHINA VISIT NOVEMBER 2005

In November 2005 Dr. Patuzzi travelled to China to visit the Audiology School at the ZheJiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ZJCTCM) in the bustling city of Hangzhou, 2 hours by train south of Shanghai. He met with Professor Yong-Hua Wang, Head of School, a vibrant powerhouse of an ENT surgeon in the province of Zhejiang. Professor Wang and his academic staff (all of them ENT surgeons) founded and run the flagship audiology program for China, with facilities that often outshine those in Australia and elsewhere. Professor Wang is also associated with a thriving facility for hearing impaired children in the suburbs of Hangzhou (see photographs right), and runs his hearing aid company within the central city district. To put the audiology program into perspective, Hangzhou has a population of about 1.5 million (about that of Perth), with 6.5 million within the greater Hangzhou district, and about 40 million in its home province of Zhejiang. The audiology program is an undergraduate course, with about 240 students in its 4 academic years, providing 60 audiology graduates per year. The program is an impressive mix of clinical skills and technical skills, including ear mold manufacture. Professor Wang's company provides about 10% of the Chinese hearing aid market, providing a mix of Widex, Phonak and Siemen's product, and more. To put this in context, Zhejiang's population of 40 million would require about twice the number of audiologists now working in Australia to provide the same level of service, or about 3000 audiologists.

While in China, Dr. Patuzzi was welcomed by academic staff and students of ZJCTCM, including the teaching staff of the Hangzhou audiology program (top right), and was very happy to meet again with the Vice President of the ZJCTCM Professor Luhang XIA and

Mr. "Sandy" CHEN (International Exchange and Co-operation of Foreign Affairs Office for the University). Dr. Patuzzi presented a talk on auditory physiology for audiology students (year 3 and 4 students), toured the facilities, visited the school for the hearing impaired (right). He met with the school principal (top left), who created the school from a disused factory complex when her daughter was born with a hearing loss. She is pictured with Dr. Patuzzi, proudly holding an award presented to one of their recent graduates for his service to the community. Only 10 such awards are presented annually by the local government. His work and the award are deserved recognition of his and the school's work, and serve as an inspiration for the younger children. She is a hero!

The campus of the ZheJiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine is a beautiful modern complex, with impressive modern facilities, elegant functional architecture, and an impressive array of Schools, Faculties and Staff. It has a number of teaching hospitals ON CAMPUS, with about 10,000 students enrolled (about the same size as UWA). It is located relatively close to the city, and near the central lake around which Hangzhou is built.

During this trip, Dr. Patuzzi traveled with Prof. Tom Riley of UWA Microbiology, and was hosted by UWA staffer Ms. Eva Chye. Both Tom and Eva were wonderful travel companions (especially on their lightening trip to Shanghai). Prof. Riley was also warmly and enthusiastically received during his visit, and spoke widely on microbiological issues of interest to the Chinese hosts, including his important work of Clostridium difficile (a bacterium responsible for the majority of hospital-based diarrhea in Western countries, including the US, Canada and Australia).