The Frontier of Medical Sciences, Forum 2012, the Conference on Pharmacogenomics Translational Medicine, the Fourth International Conference on Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety were held in Changsha, Hunan on 23 November 2012.  The Conferences were jointly organised by Division of Medicine and Health, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, undertaken by the Central South University, and co-organised by Centre for Food and Drug Safety, Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Créteil Paris XII and the University of Helsinki.  The main theme of the Conferences was "to Advance the Development of Pharmacogenomics Translational Medicine and to Promote the Safe and Effective Medications".  Prof. Hong-Hao Zhou (left 6, front row) chaired the Organising Committee.  Prof. Thomas Y.K. Chan (left 5, front row), Prof. Vivian W.Y. Lee (right 4, front row), Prof. Hervé Le Louet (right 5, front row) and Prof. Kalle Hoppu (left 4, front row) and other invited speakers discussed the recent advances and challenges in drug safety, pharmacovigilance, paediatric medicines, pharmacogenomics and pharmacoeconomics.