Five Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington faculty members spoke recently about links between public health, sports, and recreation during “IU Week”, a series of lectures hosted by Beijing Sport University (BSU) in China.

Beijing Sport University (BSU) has partnered with the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington since 1989 on faculty and student exchange. BSU is one of the world’s elite sport-centered universities, with athletes having won more than 30 gold medals, 16 silver medals and nine bronze medals in the past four Olympic Games alone.

The weeklong visit to Beijing by IU School of Public Health-Bloomington faculty members underscored the innovative ways the partners link public health, sport, and recreation. IU delegates to BSU highlighted connections across these disciplines through lectures to BSU students:

• Dr. Lynn Jamieson (Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies) presented on the role of recreation and sport in healthy communities.
• Dr. Katie Grove (Department of Kinesiology) lectured on assessment and diagnosis of shoulder impingement syndrome in the field of athletic training.
• Dr. Hsien-Chang Lin (Department of Applied Health Science) spoke about multidisciplinary and translational research methods that may be used to bridge the gaps between sport and health.
• Dr. Andrea Chomistek (Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics) lectured on physical activity and its relationship to cardiovascular and chronic disease.
• Dr. Kan Shao (Department of Environmental Health) discussed human health risk assessment, which can be applied to evaluate health risks faced by athletes.

“IU Week at BSU complements the broad strategy to improving public health that is applied by the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington,” noted Dr. Jamieson, who served as lead delegate for the group.

Research has shown that sport and recreation enhance quality of life, mitigate non-communicable diseases, improve mental health, promote youth development, reduce health-related workplace costs and help prevent early death. Delegates discussed possibilities for further faculty and student collaboration between BSU and IU on these and other research topics.

While in Beijing, IU delegates also had the opportunity to visit the newly-opened IU China Office. The 3,900 sq ft suite, located in Beijing’s Tsinghua Science Park, opened in May 2014, enabling IU to accelerate academic activities and partnerships throughout China and support a wide variety of teaching, research, and outreach activities. The office also enhances IU’s highly regarded academic expertise on China and East Asia. Recent and upcoming events include: a “China Philanthropy Workshop” hosted by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the College of Arts & Sciences; “IU2U” orientation for new IU students and their families; and “China in the Middle East”—a conference hosted by the Turkish Studies Program.