The 90th anniversary of the founding of Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) and the 51st anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) were celebrated in Beijing on October 13, 2007.

The PUMC was initially founded in 1906 with joint support from the then-Chinese government, as well as several British and American religious groups (thus the term "Union"). In 1917, it was re-organized with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation and relocated to its current location at Dongdan Santiao, in downtown Beijing. Today, the PUMC is widely considered to be the most prestigious medical school in China, and is often referred to as "The Johns Hopkins University of China". Its unique eight-year-long M.D. program has created generations of leaders in academic modern medicine and related areas.

The CAMS, a multi-discipline medical research institution established in 1956, is the only state-level academic center for medical sciences in China.

The PUMC is characteristic of a shared administrative framework with CAMS; CAMS provides the PUMC with excellent faculty and academic strength, while the PUMC contributes high-caliber intellectuals to CAMS in return.

CAMS & PUMC, under the same governing body, oversees international academic exchange and cooperation as its lifeline. It has established cooperative relationships in the fields of scientific research, education and medicine with research institutions and medical colleges in dozens of countries and regions. Since 1985, the PUMC has signed exchange agreements with Harvard University Medical College, the University of California School of Medicine, the University of Michigan Medical School, the University of West Australia School of Medicine, and the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Pursuant to these agreements, the PUMC exchanges senior students with these medical schools for short-term clinical studies. Since 1997, the PUMC has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Education to enroll students from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

Professor Wu Jieping, Honorary President of CAMS & PUMC; Gao Qiang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health; Wu Qidi, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education; Professor Mary Brown Bullock, Chairperson of the China Medical Board; William Brody, President of Johns Hopkins University; and representatives from the Rockefeller Foundation, medical schools and research institutions home and abroad, attended the celebration meeting.

In addition, seminars on medical education and difficult disease research, discussions on the PUMC's history, its current situation and prospects, and an unveiling ceremony of a statue of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of the PUMC, will follow the meeting in the two-day celebration event.