On July 17, Professor Sebastian Fernandez-Bussy, Director of the Interventional Pulmonology Center at Mayo Clinic, visited West China Hospital, Sichuan University (WCH) for academic exchange. During the visit, the WCH’s Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the Mayo Clinic Interventional Pulmonology Center officially established a sister department relationship. President Luo Fengming of WCH, along with leaders from the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the International Office, attended the exchange meeting. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Wang Gang, Party Secretary of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

President Luo extended a warm welcome to Professor Bussy in his opening remarks. After introducing WCH's international cooperation strategy and reviewing the hospital's longstanding partnership with Mayo Clinic, President Luo expressed the hope that the inauguration of the sister department relationship would further deepen collaboration between the two institutions.

Professor Bussy and Professor Liu Dan, Director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, jointly unveiled the WCH-Mayo Clinic Respiratory Medicine Sister Department plaque. Dean Luo presented commemorative plaques to both departments.

Subsequently, Mr. Cai Junjun, Deputy Director of the International Office, provided a detailed overview of WCH's international engagement in clinical care, education, and research.

Professor Bussy introduced the basic profile and international collaboration activities of Mayo Clinic. He noted that both Mayo Clinic and WCH share long histories of development and international exchange. He emphasized that Mayo Clinic's commitment to meeting patients' medical needs aligns closely with WCH's patient-centered philosophy. He expressed confidence that both sides would achieve more substantive cooperation in the future.

The two sides also held in-depth discussions on robotic-assisted bronchoscopy (RAB), establishing an international training base, promoting more personnel exchanges, and organizing regular international conferences.