Michael R. Phillips’s 42 years in China

A few desks against the wall; photos and professional books on a simple bookshelf; cockroach killers under the sofa—this is what the office of Michael R. Phillips is like. Hailing from Canada, Michael is a Canadian who can speak Chinese fluently. He is Director of the Suicide Research and Prevention Center of the Shanghai Mental Health Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. He is a professor in Psychiatry and Global Health at Emory University. He is also Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention.

A willing heart to make contributions

In 1976, following the strong recommendation of his classmates, Michael first set foot in China. During his three weeks here, he noticed that although China was poor, public health was highly valued, which has laid a foundation for the future improvement of the whole country’s health level. China’s public health system has offered an example to other developing countries, especially in Africa.

After studying in China for two years, Michael gave up his original decision to go to Africa. Instead, he made up his mind to start a career in China and make his contributions in East Asia’s heartland. “I think I can do something here,” he said. To improve his professional abilities Michael served as a resident in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Washington, where he obtained two bachelor’s degrees in epidemiology and anthropology. In 1985, he returned to China after graduation and has stayed in the country since then.

Over the past decades, Michael was a family physician specializing in schizophrenia in southern China’s Hunan Province. He also set up a clinical epidemiology center in China as a representative of the International Center for Clinical Epidemiology. In 2010, he came to Shanghai and started his work and research in the Shanghai Mental Health Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.