Author Archive: Amer Johri

Goodbye Guangzhou- Village of Water but City of Glass

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An end to amazing cultural experience. We left Guangzhou and I met up with the other Canadian scientists visiting with the program in Beijing (JP from Ottawa and Joon from Waterloo).  We have out final presentations to the Chinese official overseeing this first exchange with Canada.  We all thought this was a great way to connect with Chinese researchers and recommended continuing the program. 
Time for some last minute sight seeing here in Beijing and then headed back home. 








Navigating high volume echo at Guangdong General- 6 scans an hour! @ase360

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Navigating a metro system serving a city of ~25 million people and all in Chinese- no problem- I can get you anywhere.  Just follow me close or be lost in the crush.  Once aboard enjoy the city’s best free wifi on the train. 
Notice how everyone is thin! It’s because they don’t eat bread but enjoy a ton of seafood, some sort of red spiky lycee, and something called DragonFruit.  Surprisingly Dr Zhou tells me that heart disease is on an alarming rise in China, and perhaps is the number one killer above cancer now- making my visit to Guangdong General Hospital Cardiovascular Institute all the more prescient.
The Institute is open air and I have the opportunity to present to an audience of approximately 50 medical students, residents, and cardiologists. I received great questions on my work in cardiac risk stratification and carotid ultrasound. So glad I was able to impart some knowledge during this visit.  
The echo lab here is high volume~ 5-6 patients scanned in an hour. The physician does the scan (there are no sonographers) and an assistant quickly types up a report. Each TTE is a limited study of about 10 images saved.  But..but… What about assessing the PASP I ask for the image below?   Too late the next 30 patients are waiting…
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Your blogger from #China is back! The Marine Silk Road is steeped in wealth, wonder and ideas.

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I learned today that Guangzhou is in fact an ancient seat of knowledge exchange, being China’s window to the world as its prime port city.  For a significant portion of China’s history it held the monopoly upon foreign trade.  Exchanging goods and culture with the Swedish, Dutch, Persians and the East India Company. 
It was during the Ming Dynasty that it opened up to Western medicine and science. Dr Peter Parker chose to open China’s first western hospital in this city (1835).  He was an opthamologist. For a scientific exchange this place has a precedent!
More adventures upon the Marine Silk Road to come. 
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Guangzhou and workarounds

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The biggest difficulty while working in China has been internet access. Once you are dependent upon a high speed connection for every day communication, data storage, analysis, it’s a shock to be cut off from your usual tools.   I’ve had trouble with blogging using WordPress and am now trying this workaround. Perhaps if I was on vacation it wouldn’t be an issue, but trying to accomplish academic work requires an adjustment. 
There are vast districts here that are studded with architectectural beauty but are sparsely populated. Then there are more traditional neighborhoods where the majority seem to live. It really is the tale of 2 cities in one. 
Hoping this message gets through to you! If so I’ll keep updating my scientific progress. 






Science and culture in Guangzhou #nanobubble technology is popping

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Science

Day 1 at the Sun Yat Sen university went well. We discussed the lab’s expertise in nanobubble formation for drug delivery and I expressed the need for this work in atherosclerosis treatment and vulnerable plaque. We seem to be on track to putting together a proposal- a few more ideas to crystallize.   

The campus itself is open air, affording breath taking views from my office.  

Culture

I had a great time meeting biomedical engineering students and discussing their projects- so friendly and enthusiastic. Tan is the silent strong type- who powers through problems, Gavin is the talkative enthusiastic smart guy, and Yung is the confident young women who commands respect from her classmates because of how bright she is. I mentioned how I feel a bit cut-off as I can’t acess Google, gmail, and Twitter in China and they laughed off my predicament.  It doesn’t seem to bother most people as they have many other SM options.

Students here are proud of their work, their center and their dreams of travel and accomplishment. It’s nice to be able to share the work of my grad students.  Today Gavin is going to show me how to use the metro- it’s jam packed during commuting hours so here’s hoping I won’t be too crushed.   Today I give another presentation of our lab- and I’m going to focus a bit on Queen’s as well.