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Rebuilding Medical Education in Free China during the Sino-Japanese War

Audience: Member of University - ALL Format: In Person
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Monday, 8 June 2026, 4pm to 5.30pm

This study examines the reconstruction of medical education in China during the Sino-Japanese War. Following the outbreak of hostilities, a large-scale relocation of medical institutions to Free China took place. During this westward movement, the Rockefeller Foundation and the China Medical Board (CMB) provided crucial support to sustain medical training in the interior.

Drawing on archival materials from the Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC), this research analyzes institutional conflicts concerning governance and the maintenance of academic standards during this period. The Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) School of Nursing serves as a representative case illustrating these wartime transformations. The study highlights the persistent tension between upholding elite educational standards and adapting to the severe material constraints of war, and explores how these challenges shaped the institutional development of medical education in this critical era.

Jeongeun Jo is a historian of modern China whose research focuses on the social history of medicine, public health, and medical education. Her doctoral dissertation examined the localization of medical missionary work in modern China. Since then, her research has explored the diffusion and localization of vaccination technologies such as smallpox inoculation, and the history of epidemic control in urban settings. She is currently interested in Western influence and Chinese reception in Western medical education, with a particular focus on the impact of the Rockefeller Foundation on medical education in China.

Speaker(s): Jeongeun Jo (Kyung Hee University)

Series: Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology

Venue: Schwarzman Centre - Room 00.063 - Room 00.063 Schwarzman Centre Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 6GG United Kingdom

Department: History (Department)

Host: Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology