COVER STORY
封面故事
工程院院士、加拿大工程研究院院士、国际电子电气工程师协会会士，是国际智慧医疗器
械领域的顶级专家。2005年，萨万教授受邀随魁北克科技代表团访问中国，对中国改革开
放和科技进步所取得的成就有了初步的认识和了解，并开始关注中国的发展。从2006年开
始，萨万教授在上海交通大学任兼职教授，每年都要来中国几个星期，进行课程教学和科
研合作。在这期间，萨万教授结识了西湖大学团队的研究员荣国光博士，双方在上海交通
大学建立了深入的合作关系，在2009年和2013年两次合作申报并承担了上海—魁北克国
际科技合作项目，研究先进生物传感器与芯片实验室。由于项目取得的突出科研成果，萨
万教授在2015年获得了上海市国际科技合作奖。
倪天勇 摄
38国际人才交流
萨万：全职加入西湖大学的加拿大院士
萨万教授一直关注中国的发展，特别是对中国在科研与教育事业上所取得的成就印象深刻。我也多次去蒙特尔大学拜访萨万教授，除科研合作外，也向萨万教授介绍了中国科研和教育事业的进步和发展。萨万教授希望中国能够更好更快的发展，并希望能为中国的科研和教育事业作出更多的贡献。
2017年萨万教授产生了到中国发展、继续从事科研和教育事业的想法，并重点关注中国新型研究型大学建设的动态。我了解萨万教授的想法后，为他积极介绍中国在科教事业发展方面的最新动态，并向萨万教授重点推荐西湖大学——一所社会力量举办、国家重点支持、小而精的新型研究型大学，这所大学代表着中国在创新创造和人才培养方面的新探索，未来发展对标美国加州理工学院的规模和斯坦福大学的模式。对此，萨万教授表现出浓厚的兴趣，想要进一步了解西湖大学。通过我的积极对接，2018年4月16日，萨万教授到访西湖大学。在这一天，西湖大学在杭州召开校董会第一次会议，施一公当选为西湖大学首任校长，许田和仇旻当选副校长。校董会结束后，施一公校长与萨万教授会面，就中国的科研事业发展以及西湖大学的办学理念和发展前景进行了深入交流。4月17日，萨万教授在西湖大学云栖校区举办学术讲座，并与西湖大学的年轻科学家和博士生们进行自由的学术交流。4月18日，西湖大学诚挚
邀请萨万教授全职加入，拟聘任他为工学院讲席教授。萨万教授欣然接受了邀请，并表示将尽快完成过渡。经过半年左右的过渡期，萨万教授于2019年1月正式全职加入西湖大学，任工学院讲席教授、生物医学研究与创新尖端实验室首席科学家。西湖大学校长施一公院士高度评价萨万教授的全职加入，将萨万教授看作是西湖大学的创始人之一。
在全职来到西湖大学之前，萨万教授就已经开始着手实验室的建设和团队的组建，指导我开展实验室空间的规划和建设、仪器设备的采购，以及科研人员和博士生的面试和招聘工作。2019年3月开始，生物医学研究与创新尖端实验室的团队成员陆续到位， 包括副研究员、助理研究员、博士后、博士生和科研助理等。2019年10月，实验室建设顺利完成并启用，团队成员的实验室工作顺利展开。
开发新检测体系 助力疫情防控
新冠肺炎疫情暴发后，在2020年1月23日武汉“封城”的那一天，萨万教授迅速组织团队成员第一时间开启了新的研究方向——为疫情防控研究新冠病毒的现场快速检测方法，申报并承担了腾讯基金、西湖大学、浙江大学等资助的多项新冠肺炎疫情应急科研攻关项目，研究用于新冠病毒等病原体快速现场检测的新型生物传感器和高通量自动化检测系统。经过一年左右的科研努力，项目取得了丰硕的成果——成功开发了高灵敏度生物传感器及其自动化高通量现场快速检测系统，提出了与现有以核酸法为代表的检测体系不同的检测思路，用于更加高效的疫情防控。
疫情防控需要采用不同的检测体系。目前项目团队开发成功的生物传感器及其检测系统具有通量高、速度快、灵敏度高、成本低、机器人全自动检测等一系列的优势，有望在大规模人筛查方面发挥重要作用。在新冠肺炎疫情很有可能长期化的背景下，这对于控制国外严峻的疫情蔓延和国内时有暴发的疫情反复都有重要的意义。腾讯基金和西湖大学等支持的应急科研攻关项目已获得两项发明专利和PCT专利，项目成果原型机在浙江省疾控中心进行临床试用。目前项目组也与杭州市疾控中心合作，开发用于新冠病毒等病原体现场快速检测的可移动实验室，全自动、高通量、快速完成以新冠病毒为代表的多种病原微生物的检测，应用于环境和食品的监测，有望在2022年杭州亚运会期间获得推广应用。
文/荣国光
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INTERNATIONAL TALENT
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COVER STORY
西湖大学成立封面故事着力开展人才培养、学科建设和产业化探索
萨万教授治学严谨，要求学生们要勇于创新，要敢于挑战权威。萨万教授每周定时组织召开会议，与全体科研人员和博士生讨论项目进展和成果，以及下一步工作计划。同时，萨万教授每两周与每位团队成员进行一对一、面对面的交流，指导科研项目的开展并共同讨论如何解决遇到的问题。萨万教授在人才培养方面也有独到的想法，目前生物医学研究与创新尖端实验室里的十多位博士生主要是国内培养的本科或者硕士毕业生。萨万教授发现他们能够将导师交给的任务完成得很好，但是自主驱动科学发现能力和创新能力要普遍弱于他在加拿大指导过的来自全球各个国家和地区的博士生。这可能主要是由于他们在基础教育阶段过分强调成绩和排名，从而忽视了创新能力的培养。萨万教授发现创新能力强的那些学生往往并不是考试成绩最好、排名最高的学生，而往往是排名在第二梯队的学生。萨万教授认为，中国国内的基础教育虽然非常扎实，但是有必要做一些教学理念方面的变革，不应过分强调考试成绩和名次，而应该适当加强创新能力和自主兴趣方向的培养，这样才能在未来国际科技竞争、国家创新驱动发展战略实施方面源源不断地输送创新型人才。这对中国未来国家崛起、国家科技战略的实现和中华民族为世界人民作出新贡献（西湖大学的创立目标）都具有重要意义。
萨万教授同时兼任西湖大学工学院电子学部主任，肩负着学校一级学科——电子科学与技术的学科建设任务，他积极规划课程教学大纲、人才培养方案，开展学术人才的招聘，对电子学科领域在西湖大学的发展作出了突出贡献。萨万教授特别关注电子信息技术在医疗健康领域的应用，希望通过先进的集成电路芯片、人工智能、纳米传感器、光电子、生物界面等方面的技术研发可穿戴和可植入的智慧医疗器械
以及体外诊断设备。萨万教授鼓励青年科研人员积极探索学术前沿，只要科研人员有好的想法，萨万教授都予以大力支持。
萨万教授积极开展科研合作以及产业化探索。萨万教授团队与浙江大学医学院附属第二医院合作探索用人工智能芯片预测癫痫发作，改善癫痫病人的生活状况。团队与碧桂园集团的博智林机器人合作研
「责任编辑：李艺雯」
究人工智能在脑机接口和脑部疾病诊断方面的应用。萨万教授也积极推动创新成果的转化。2019年6月，萨万教授携团队参与2019年全国“双创周”活动并作为主讲嘉宾作了题为《打通科技成果转化最后一公里》的主题演讲。同时，萨万教授积极推动西湖大学与智慧医疗行业领军企业“创业慧康”的合作，推动与政府创新平台“杭州湘湖国际健康产业协同创新先行试验区”的积极合作。2019年3月，浙江省委书记袁家军调研西湖大学时接见了萨万教授。由于对杭州市和浙江省科技创新发展作出突出贡献，萨万教授于2019年获得杭州市钱江友谊使者奖，2020年获得浙江省西湖友谊使者奖。
为数字经济和生命健康领域作贡献
萨万教授非常喜爱杭州这座充满活力、多姿多彩、风景秀美、环境宜人的城市，认为它既有大城市的繁华，又有自然的美景，两者相得益彰，让人流连忘返。萨万教授每隔几个月就会组织团队成员进行户外
团建活动，包括爬山、骑自行车、在风景名胜区游玩和烧烤聚餐等。在这些活动中，团队成员之间可以更加轻松自由地互动交流。萨万教授非常擅长烧烤，他腌制的大块清真羊肉烧烤后的滋味受到团队成员的一致称赞。萨万教授在家也会经常烹制黎巴嫩菜，他说在杭州能够买到所需要的所有原材料，做出的黎巴嫩菜非常地道。萨万教授在工作之余，也会携爱人和我们到西湖边游玩，并在西湖边味道正宗的阿拉伯餐馆用餐。萨万夫妇都是穆斯林，想要在杭州这座充满活力的城市到清真餐厅其实并不难。杭州也有中国最古老的清真寺——凤凰寺，始建于公元7世纪。这让萨万教授感到非常惊讶，因为在那时伊斯兰教创立不久，而万里之遥的杭州就已经建立起来一座宏伟的清真寺。在那个时代，人员和经贸的往来就可见一斑。时隔一千多年后，萨万教授也承载着同样的人类命运共同体的使命在杭州工作和发展，颇有历史穿越感，让人不禁感慨万千。
依托西湖大学这一新型创新平台，萨万教授的科研和教学工作将为我国电子信息、生物医药等领域发展和创新人才的培养提供新的模式和理念。相信萨万教授及其团队将会为杭州市、浙江省乃至中国在数字经济、生命健康等领域的发展作出更多积极的贡献。（作者单位：西湖大学）
Mohamad Sawan is an internationally renowned scientist in the field of intelligent biomedical devices. As a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Canadian Institute of Engineering, and of the IEEE, the Lebanese-born Canadian has made significant contributions in implantable and wearable medical devices based on smart microsystems. He is also cur-rently the editor-in-chief of the
esteemed medical journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems.
Professor Sawan received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Sherbrooke in Canada in 1990. In 1991, he became a postdoctoral researcher in biomedical engineering at McGill University in Canada as well as an assistant profes-sor, and later professor at the University of Montreal, Canada, Connections with China
In a recent interview, Professor Sawan said that being an aca-demic has meant that he has built small connections with Chi-nese colleagues over the years.
“In 2005, I came to China for the first time, in a project repre senting the scientific community of the Canadian government. We went to universities in Beijing and Shanghai, including Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I estab-lished contact with more people and after that and our relations became stronger,” Sawan said.
Sawan was later appointed as an adjunct professor at Shanghai
Mohamad Sawan:
“Collaboration with China can never be enough”By Wang Yiming / Photo by Li Yiwen
“At that time, Westlake University was looking for professors, and I thought it as a good chance to move. Then I came to Hang-zhou and met the university’s president Shi Yigong. It was not difficult for him to convince me to move.”
Researching and teaching around the West Lake
Professor Sawan’s research team at Westlake University was es-tablished in January 2019 and currently consists of 25 members, including senior researchers, PhD students, and research assis-tants.
“The reason why I was especially motivated or attracted to join Westlake University is that the university’s vision is interna-tional. We are not competing with Tsinghua or other local uni-versities. We want to do something different. We aim to match institutes like Caltech,” Sawan said.
Regarding the differences of working and conducting scien-tific research in China versus Montreal, Sawan considers them rather “small.” “There are differences but I don’t think anything really major.”
During the interview, Sawan did mention a “little difference” among the students. “The students in North America are more independent and they are educated to say no, even to the super-visor, while Chinese students would never do so even if they considered that the supervisor was wrong.”
“Chinese students also work very hard. You can’t reach the students in Montreal after 5:30pm and on weekends, but in China, everyone, including the faculty and staff, is working all the time. I try to encourage the students here to get out of the lab and tell them that what’s important is the outcome, not the number of hours.”
“But actually in Montreal, I do graduate very strong Chinese students. Now they are the big guns in U.S. and everywhere,” Sawan added.
Asked about what he would like to see to improve regarding the university’s working environment, Sawan replied that, “Overall, I think universities have great conditions and I have no com-plaints.”
“The leadership of the university and from the government is very supportive. In one year from now, we will move to a new campus. We’ll then have more space and more facilities.”
Professor Sawan stressed that China can do more in the bio-medical field. “Biomedical researches take more time to gener-ate products and enter the market. But we have to invest in the long-term,” Sawan said, noting that China has the “capacity and conditions” in this field to do so.
“Biomedical sciences must be a priority in the future because of China’s aging population, as well as ot
her stressors on health,” Sawan said, citing COVID-19 as a warning. “We’re working with China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now to validate a biosensor to detect COVID-19 on-site.”
In terms of international cooperation in the field of biomedical research, Professor Sawan explained: “I know there are many programs led by different ministries and the National Natural Science Foundation of China to encourage collaboration with foreign countries, and I have participated in one of them.”
“I think it is important to maintain this kind of collaboration,” Sawan said. “Collaboration between Chinese colleagues and the outside world can never be enough.”
Current life and expectations
“I was born in a small city, kind of a village, and then went to big cities everywhere. So based on my experience, I would prefer to live in a city like Hangzhou; a beautiful green city, quiet, and not very big when compared with large and fa-mous cities such as Shanghai and Beijing,” professor Sawan said.
He also spoke highly of China’s “rapid and tremendous devel-opment,” saying, “I remember I was not able to find a coffee in 2005, but now you can find Starbucks and all kinds of coffee in every street. It’s completely different.”
“I am happy to be in China. Now you have everything here,” Professor Sawan said. “And I like people in China as well. I have the feeling that everyone is happy and satisfied. If you go to a big city in the U.S. or Canada, you can see people fighting or shooting in the street because of problems related to their livelihoods, but here you don’t see that. You talk to the people and they are happy to talk to you.”
Professor Sawan expressed appreciation for the help his assis-tants and the university’s human resources department have provided him. “They have helped me solve many problems,” Sawan said.
But he also admitted that the language barrier still causes in-convenience. “You cannot disturb your assistant every minute. Now I can use the DiDi APP but I still need language help when I go to places like the hospital.”
In his spare time, Professor Sawan enjoys jogging, going sight-seeing, and tries different restaurants in Hangzhou. He also participated in the 2019 Hangzhou Marathon.
According to Professor Sawan, many other countries, including his homeland, continue to offer him work opportunities but he believes that it’s not a good time to go back.
“I think the conditions in China now are great,” Sawan said. “I would be happy to stay for another five to ten years to continue my research.”
「Executive editor: Li Yiwen / Reviewer: Tom Arnstein」
COVER STORY 封面故事
42国际人才交流
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