Welcome to the third of an annual series of research summits in medical science, hosted through a unique collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and The Lancet. We are proud to be working together to showcase internationally the very best medical and public health science in China. The aim of our meeting is to promote this work globally and to foster a national and international conversation about strengthening still further the growing success of China’s health science community. We also hope to encourage, even accelerate, translation of the most rigorous and reliable research findings into health benefits for patients and public alike. We very much look forward to your participation in this meeting. We hope you not only find our conference productive, but also enjoyable!