USF Health’s infectious disease expert John Sinnott, MD, FACP, was recently presented with the 2017 Dunhuang Award, the Gansu Province government’s highest honor.

Dr. Sinnott, professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, received the award at a special ceremony held in October in the capitol city of Ganzu in Northwestern China. Mr. Li Bin, the Vice Governor of Gansu Province, China, presented the award to Dr. Sinnott.

The Dunhuang Award is given to foreign individuals for their outstanding service and remarkable contributions to the economic, scientific, academic development and educational programs in Gansu Province.

Dr. Sinnott was the only American honored this year. As Mr. Li presented him with the award, he said to Dr. Sinnott “The people of Ganzu thank you for your immense contributions to improve their health infrastructure by training our physicians, nurses, and other health professionals.” Mr. Lin credited Dr. Sinnott with improving health care throughout the Gansu province by training 136 physicians and administrators since 2010 at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Dr. Sinnott has visited the city of Gansu Province nine times since 2009 and forged a sister city relationship between Tampa and Lanzhou in 2016. Since 2010 the First and Second Hospitals of Lanzhou University have worked with USF Medicine International to train hospital administrators and physicians. The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine has signed a collaborative agreement with the Lanzhou University College of Medicine. Lanzhou University is one of the top universities in Northwestern China boasting 30, 000 students across six campuses.