The 8th Sun Yat-sen Medical Education Conference (SYSMEC 2026) and the China Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals (CCETH) Mutual Visits were held in Guangzhou from March 20 to 22, 2026. Centered on the theme of "Assessment and Outlook for Future Medical Talent in the Age of AI," the conference brought together leading medical education experts from China and abroad. PUMCH President Zhang Shuyang and Vice President Du Bin led a delegation that also included Li Hang, Director of the Department of Education, members of the faculty competency taskforce, and a number of core faculty members.

At the plenary session on the morning of March 22, President Zhang Shuyang delivered the opening speech on behalf of CCETH. She pointed out that medical education assessment in the age of AI must keep sight of its core purpose: nurturing well-rounded physicians. This calls for prioritizing more sophisticated competencies, including critical thinking, complex problem-solving, and the ability to make ethically sound clinical judgments with AI assistance, while maintaining an unwavering commitment to patient-centered, high-quality care. Collaboration, she noted, is the only viable path forward in the face of such sweeping changes. President Zhang called for deeper cooperation across institutions, regions, and borders to collectively develop scalable "Chinese solutions" for training the next generation of exemplary physicians.

At the same plenary session, Vice President Du Bin presented on "The Impact of AI on Critical Thinking in Medical Education and Potential Solutions." He examined the risk that over-reliance on AI may gradually erode physicians' capacity for independent critical thinking, and proposed that AI tools should be introduced only after clinicians have built a solid foundation of clinical experience, a practical approach to keeping analytical rigor intact without forgoing the benefits of technology. At CCETH's parallel session, Du Bin further presented on "Advancing Clinical Faculty Teaching Competency through a Competency-Based Lens," walking attendees through PUMCH's "T-Series" structured faculty development program, built on international frameworks. The program supports the professional transition of clinicians from skilled practitioners to effective educators, offering a replicable roadmap for faculty development in the AI era.

Zhu Bo, Chief Physician of the Department of Anesthesiology, presented on "Building a Milestone-Based Competency Assessment System for Consortium Residents: PUMCH's Experience." His presentation focused on PUMCH's pilot initiatives across the Departments of Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology — covering the establishment of competency-oriented Clinical Competency Committees (CCCs), the delivery of targeted faculty training programs (T2A, short for “Training to Assessors”), and the development of specialty-specific assessment tools for anesthesiology. These locally adapted practices offer useful benchmarks for strengthening quality assessment in China's national residency training programs.

On the afternoon of March 21, the CCETH Executive Committee convened, chaired by Li Hang, Director of PUMCH's Department of Education. The meeting heard interim progress reports on the first batch of "Leadership Initiative" projects that included digital competency assessment standards for medical faculty and a consensus framework for general resident training, and formally approved three new projects for the second batch. The meeting also launched "Leadership Initiative 2.0," designed to foster online academic exchange and resource sharing among member institutions through a rotating leadership structure.