Recognizing the global collaborations that are needed to conduct clinical research, the DCRI fellowship has grown tremendously in a short period of time.  Durham, NC is now home to fellows from all over the world who are devoting two years to clinical research.  One can only imagine the numerous future collaborations between institutions linked through the individuals in this training program.  Here’s a post from one of our Chinese colleagues:

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Lan Alexandra Shen, MD

I am Lan Alexandra Shen, cardiologist from Shanghai Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine. My mentor is Dr. Ben He, MD, Ph.D, FACC, director of cardiovascular department, Renji Hospital.

The cardiovascular department of Shanghai Renji Hospital is the first national-certificated interventional training center and center of continuing education of ACC. As the largest cardiovascular emergency interventional center in Shanghai, our cardiovascular department has 98 beds, 3 interventional rooms, one cardiovascular intensive care unit, one echo lab, and one clinical research pharmacological center. In 2011, there were 4,000 hospital admissions, 150,000 outpatient visits and 3,000 interventional procedures, with more than 300 emergent PCI performed. Even with this volume, the in-hospital mortality of acute myocardial infarction is less than 3 %.

With millions of dollars of research funding grants from national and municipal government, our department features research in interventional cardiology, myocardial reperfusion, and acute myocardial infarction in elderly females. In the past 5 years, we have had more than 50 publications in peer-review journals. Among many clinical trials, our department has participated in ATLAS ACS 2–TIMI and PLATO.

With Dr. Bimal Shah as my mentor, I have been working on not only clinical trials but also medical device regulation comparison between FDA and SFDA and secondary data analyses from ACTION, CRUSADE and NAVIGATOR. Being a DCRI fellow is a fabulous way to start my journey in cardiovascular clinical research. In particular, the mentors have been an amazing part of this journey.  Doors of faculty members are always open for people to walk in and have a talk with them. As fellows, we also walk to each other’s cubicle to discuss and share ideas. For me, it is like an adventure to explore uncharted territories. It is always exciting to experience more at this amazing institute.