Prof. Peter J Little AM from University of Queensland Visited SYSH
On November 24th, Prof. Peter J Little AM, Head of School of Pharmacy from the University of Queensland, visited Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital (SYSH) and gave lectures on “Molecular endocrinology of G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs)” and “Pharmacy education in Australia”. Prof. Liu Qiang (director of SYSH’s International Office), Prof. Qiu Kaifeng (director of SYSH’s Department of Pharmacy), and Prof. Wu Junyan (director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacy, the Department of Pharmacy) met with Prof. Little and attended his lectures.
In Prof.Little’s first presentation, he elaborated on the relationships between G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), atherosclerosis, and drug targets. With solid research data, Prof Little revealed the connection between GPCR and diseases like diabetes and atherosclerosis. He also stressed the close tie between the Thrombin and GPCRs, which broadened the audience’s scope. In his second speech, Prof. Little introduced the pharmaceutical education and pharmacists work in Australia, which offered a great chance for the attendees, most of whom were pharmacists, to know about the education and career of a pharmacist in Australia.
Another main purpose of Prof. Little’s visit is to explore the possibility of collaboration on student/pharmacists exchanges between the University of Queensland and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. An in-depth discussion of feasible plans was carried out after the lecture. Both delegates expressed strong interest in the collaboration, which includes inviting Australia pharmaceutical students to the hospital for a short-termed internship and sending talented pharmacists from the Hospital to Australia for short-termed research and clinical studies. After the fruitful discussion, both parties agreed to followup with detailed plan and sign the collaboration document soon.
Prof. Little is currently the Head of Pharmacy School at the University of Queensland. His research has centered on the cardiovascular complications of diabetes, specifically the role of modified proteoglycans in lipid deposition diseases. He has published over 160 peer reviewed publications with more than 4500 citations. He has been the State and National President of Diabetes Australia and was Founding Secretary and later President of The Australian Vascular Biology Society. In 2007, he received an Order of Australia (“AM”) , which is a national honor, for his services to people with diabetes and diabetes research.
