Rheumatology Department

The Department of Rheumatology was established in 1990 and was the first institution among Beijing municipal hospitals to establish an independent rheumatology specialty and a rheumatology and immunology laboratory. It currently serves as the institutional base for the Deputy Chair of the Rheumatology Branch of the Beijing Medical Association and the Chair of the Department of Rheumatology at Capital Medical University. Since its establishment, the department has consistently upheld the spirit of the hospital motto, “Benevolence, Broad Learning, and Excellence.” Through the painstaking efforts of several generations of healthcare professionals, it has developed a highly capable, pragmatic team integrating clinical care, teaching, and research, with extensive clinical experience. The department ranks among the leading departments of Beijing municipal hospitals in diagnostic and treatment standards, medical quality, and service capacity, and enjoys an excellent reputation in the profession and among patients.

The rheumatology ward currently has 38 authorized beds (20 at the Xicheng campus, 6 at the Tongzhou campus, and 12 at the Shunyi campus), more than 69,000 outpatient visits annually, and more than 1,800 patient discharges annually. Conditions diagnosed and treated include rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, gout, osteoarthritis, various spondyloarthritides (such as ankylosing spondylitis), scleroderma, polymyositis/dermatomyositis, Behçet’s disease, vasculitis, IgG4-related disease, retroperitoneal fibrosis, adult-onset Still’s disease, and relapsing polychondritis. Through long-term clinical practice and the accumulation of technical expertise, the department has developed a comprehensive set of effective diagnostic and treatment measures. In particular, its diagnosis and treatment of IgG4-related disease, retroperitoneal fibrosis, and other conditions, as well as its clinical and basic research on them, are at the forefront nationally and even internationally. The department has now established multiple disease-specific outpatient clinics (such as those for gout, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and IgG4-related disease) to meet patients’ diverse needs for medical care as fully as possible. The department currently has 17 physicians, including 5 physicians with senior professional titles, 1 doctoral supervisor, and 2 master’s supervisors. Core team members hold important positions in professional academic organizations in China and abroad, including committee membership in the Rheumatology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, committee membership in the Rheumatology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, the position of Deputy Chair of the Rheumatology Branch of the Beijing Medical Association, and the positions of Standing Committee Member and Secretary-General of the IgG4-Related Disease Group of the Cross-Strait Medical and Health Exchange Association, among others, reflecting outstanding professional expertise. In research and teaching, the department has undertaken multiple projects at the national and provincial/ministerial levels, including the National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Doctoral Fund of the Ministry of Education. It has published more than 100 Chinese- and English-language articles in NEJM, Ann Rheum Dis, Cell Rep, Rheumatology, and other journals, and has served as editor-in-chief or a contributing editor for more than 20 monographs on rheumatic diseases. It has led multiple drug clinical trials and has successively served as a drafter or corresponding author for the Chinese Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of IgG4-Related Disease, the Standards for the Diagnosis and Treatment of IgG4-Related Disease, and the Expert Consensus on the Clinical Applicability Evaluation of Imaging Examinations for IgG4-Related Disease, thereby strongly advancing the standardized diagnosis and treatment of IgG4-related disease.

For many consecutive years, the department has been recognized as an Advanced Collective of Beijing Friendship Hospital. It has also been awarded by the Autoimmune Branch of the Chinese Society for Immunology the title “Demonstration Center for Standardized Diagnosis and Treatment in Rheumatology and Immunology under the Medical Belt and Road Project.” It is a modern specialized rheumatology and immunology diagnosis and treatment center integrating medical care, teaching, and research.