At 14:06PM London local time of 17 September 2015, a hanging-up ceremony of the National Center for International Research on Tropical Diseases was held in London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK (LSHTM). The Deputy Director and Provost, Professor Dame Anne Mills of LSHTM and the Deputy Director, Professor Ning Xiao of the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, China CDC (NIPD) participated in the ceremony. In the ceremony, Professor Mills spoke highly of great contribution and achievement made by China and NIPD on control and elimination of schistosomiasis, malaria, filariasis and other tropical diseases. She particularly emphasized that the hanging up of the plaque would be a new starting point of collaboration between LSHTM and NIPD. Dr. Xiao also mentioned that a much closer collaboration on tropical diseases research and control, information exchange and personnel training has taken place since the MOU was signed by Professor Zhou Xiao-nong, Director of NIPD and Professor Peter Piot, Director of LSHTM in Beijing, December 2013. He sincerely hoped that hanging up of the plaque would be a wonderful opportunity to deepen the mutual benefit relationship at various aspects. Dr. Yan He, who is currently studying in LSHTM, participated in the ceremony. She promised to well take this good chance to study hard and learn more in order to make contribution to China-UK collaboration on parasitic diseases control.

In 2014, NIPD was designated as the National Center for International Research on Tropical Diseases by the Ministry of Science & Technology of China. The purpose of the Center is to establish an international network to contribute to research on tropical diseases and high-level personnel academic exchange in collaboration with world-renown institutions including Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute (STPHI), LSHTM, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute of Egypt, Ifakara Health Institute of Tanzania (IHI) and Duke Global Health Institute of USA. All efforts are taken to strengthen the Chinese capacity in engagement of global health governance and research level on tropical diseases, and furthermore to make more impact on international affairs. Until now, the plaques of the National Center for International Research on Tropical Diseases have been hung up at IHI and STPHI besides LSHTM. The hanging up of the plaque in these three famous institutions indicates that the center is at a real operation.