US healthcare expert Richard Hart has been dedicated to supporting China's healthcare system for decades. [Photo provided to China Daily]

When Richard Hart, an expert in healthcare management from the United States, is asked about his China connection, he starts from the beginning.

Hart, 71, is proud that his organization has been associated with China's health endeavors for more than 100 years. He is the president of Loma Linda University Health, a California-based religious nonprofit that has a number of affiliates such as Loma Linda University and Loma Linda University Medical Center.

The earliest graduates from his university came to work in China in 1914, Hart tells China Daily.

Among them was Harry Miller, who later came to be known as the "China doctor" because he established 10 hospitals in the country and used soy milk to treat malnutrition in children.

Hart's first personal involvement with Chinese healthcare was in the late 1970s as dean of the university's public health school. He came to Beijing several times for a project that was being carried out between his university and the central government's health administration, in a bid to help with nutrition campaigns.