News Release

Loyola neurosurgeon Christopher Loftus, M.D., named Honorary Citizen of Changzhou, China

Grant and Award Announcement

Loyola Medicine

Christopher Loftus, Loyola University Health System

image: Christopher Loftus, MD (second from right) was named an Honorary Citizen of Changzhou, China. view more 

Credit: Loyola University Chicago

MAYWOOD, Ill. - Neurosurgeon Christopher Loftus, MD, of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine has been named an Honorary Citizen of the city of Changzhou, China.

The honor is in recognition of a medical education program Dr. Loftus helped to establish between Loyola's medical school and the First People's Hospital of Changzhou.

Changzhou is a major city in the Yangtze Delta in eastern China. It is a rare honor for a physician to be named an Honorary Citizen. Most people named Honorary Citizens are businessmen who operate large manufacturing plants in the city.

Each year, several fourth-year Loyola medical students take a four-week elective course at First People's Hospital, an academic medical center with a long history of integrating traditional Chinese medicine with modern western medicine.

The course is customized to the student's specialty choice and general medical interests. For example, a student who plans to specialize in internal medicine could spend two weeks on the hospital's internal medicine wards and two weeks in the traditional Chinese medicine clinics, observing acupuncture, herbal therapies, etc.

Dr. Loftus is an internationally known neurosurgeon. He serves as treasurer of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, a professional, scientific, nongovernmental organization that represents about 30,000 neurosurgeons worldwide. Dr. Loftus has written more than 600 research papers, books and/or book chapters, articles, reviews, abstracts and special presentations. He has been named to Castle Connolly's Top Doctors list.

The elective course at First People's Hospital is among the programs offered by Loyola's Center for Community and Global Health. The center supports a service-learning framework for future health care providers who aspire to improve the health of underserved communities locally, nationally and globally. The center strives to prepare students in the Jesuit tradition of collaborative outreach and interdisciplinary research with a commitment to advocacy, solidarity and a passion for social justice.

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