Professor James McKerrow (Dean, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of California at San Diego, U.S.A.) visited the Chinese National Compound Library (CNCL) and Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, respectively, in the afternoon of March 18, 2017. He was warmly received by Drs. Ming-Wei Wang, Beili Wu, Haiyan Zhang and Yi Zang, as well as Mr. Yongzheng Wu from Division of Graduate Studies. In-depth discussions were carried out concerning opportunities in research and education collaborations. A mutual understanding was reached relative to promotion of this course.