Pediatric Respiratory Department

Pediatric Respiratory Medicine I. Overview: The Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine of Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center (formerly Guangzhou Children’s Hospital) has a long history; the specialty was formally established in the 1970s. After generations of effort, it is now a well-known pediatric respiratory specialty in South China and nationwide, integrating clinical care, teaching and research. It is a National Clinical Key Specialty of the Ministry of Health, a Children’s Respiratory Endoscopy Training Center of the Ministry of Health, and a key discipline and clinical key specialty of the Guangdong Health Department’s “12th Five-Year Plan.” It was also named an Advanced Unit for Clinical Application and Technical Promotion of Pediatric Bronchoscopy and the “Strongest Department” among Guangdong hospitals. It is a postgraduate teaching base for Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou Medical University and Jinan Medical University. The department has two respiratory wards and two respiratory outpatient clinics, with a standardized aerosol inhalation treatment center, pediatric bronchoscopy diagnosis and treatment center/day ward, pediatric specific-immunotherapy clinic, infant pulmonary-function laboratory and standardized asthma clinic. There are 30 specialist physicians, including 12 senior-title physicians, 2 postgraduate supervisors, 6 doctors (including those in training), 4 jointly trained postdoctoral fellows, 4 American Heart Association (AHA) training instructors and 1 chief training instructor. Three have received the title “Good Doctors of Yangcheng” and one “Famous Doctor of Lingnan.” The team has extensive clinical experience and expertise in diagnosis and treatment of pediatric respiratory diseases including pulmonary infections, wheezing disorders, bleeding disorders, interstitial lung disease, immune-abnormality-related pulmonary disease and congenital bronchopulmonary malformations. II. Distinctive services: 1. Standardized pediatric asthma specialty: leading unit of the Guangdong Medical Association Pediatric Branch Pediatric Asthma Collaboration Group; one of China’s earliest units to provide inhalation therapy for childhood asthma, with complete facilities and an advanced management platform. It has two asthma centers, a pediatric respiratory rehabilitation center and pulmonary-function testing system. An expert team uses a respiratory APP and the Internet of Things to provide intelligent asthma management and services. 2. Pediatric bronchoscopy center/day ward: leading unit of the Bronchoscopy Collaboration Group of the Respiratory Group of the Chinese Medical Association Pediatric Branch. In 2015 it established one of China’s first pediatric bronchoscopy day wards. Under general or local anesthesia it performs pulmonary inspection, bronchoalveolar lavage, foreign-body removal, endobronchial biopsy, and diagnosis/treatment of pulmonary hemorrhage and tracheal tumors under direct endoscopic vision. Interventional techniques include transbronchoscopic carbon-dioxide cryotherapy, electrocision, balloon dilation and argon plasma coagulation. It also provides outside-hospital bronchoscopy consultations for difficult respiratory cases. 3. Infant pulmonary-function laboratory: among China’s earliest units in this field, with first-class equipment testing ventilation, gas exchange, respiratory mechanics, functional residual capacity, negative expiratory pressure (NEP), bronchodilation and bronchial provocation at all ages; plethysmography measures infant airway resistance and compliance, functional residual capacity and lung compliance, and expiratory negative pressure. An infant noninvasive airway-inflammation monitoring room has also been established. 4. Pediatric specific-immunity clinic: deputy-leading unit of the Respiratory Immunology Collaboration Group; performs skin-prick tests, serum specific IgE and other allergen tests, and provides sublingual and subcutaneous allergen-specific immunotherapy in an independent desensitization room. 5. Pediatric interstitial lung disease clinic: member of the Chinese Medical Association collaboration group; has clinical and research foundations, and works closely with thoracic surgery and interventional medicine to improve clinical, imaging, diagnostic (including genetic screening) and treatment pathways. 6. Respiratory infection specialty: includes respiratory outpatient service, respiratory infectious-disease ward, pediatric respiratory bacterial and viral repositories and a respiratory pathogen testing center; it is a WHO influenza surveillance site. III. Research and teaching: For eight consecutive years the department has hosted national continuing-education programs: Yangcheng Pediatric Respiratory Forum and New Technologies and Advances in Pediatric Respiratory Diseases; Pediatric Pulmonary-Function New-Technology Course; and the Hands-on Pediatric Bronchoscopy Diagnosis and Treatment Course. It has also hosted the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, Pearl River Pediatric Respiratory Forums and Flow Academy, and regularly conducts lectures on standardized primary-level diagnosis and treatment. Physicians trained in bronchoscopy and pulmonary-function testing come from South China and across China. Research projects led or participated in include: National Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinical Research Base key-disease project; 2 National Natural Science Foundation Young Scientists projects; National Health and Family Planning Commission special project; National Clinical Medical Center for Respiratory Diseases project; open project of the CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology; TCM industry research project; General Program of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation; Guangdong Natural Science Foundation key project; 2 Guangdong Natural Science Foundation projects; 3 Guangdong Department of Science and Technology social-development projects; and Guangdong Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine project. Staff have published more than 20 SCI papers in J Allergy Clin Immunol, Journal of Cellular and Molecular, Jpn J Infect Dis, Medicine, BMC Infectious Diseases, Mediators of Inflammation, Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, European Journal of Inflammation and European Journal of Pediatrics, more than 10 papers in Chinese Medical Association journals, participated in 5 books, and helped formulate more than 10 national guidelines or expert consensuses on pediatric respiratory diseases. IV. Academic leaders: Deng Li, professor, chief physician and master’s supervisor, is leader of a National Clinical Key Specialty of the Ministry of Health. Positions include deputy head of the Respiratory Group of the Chinese Medical Association Pediatric Branch; deputy chair of the Guangdong Medical Association Allergy Society; standing committee member of the Guangdong Medical Doctor Association Pediatric Branch; head of the Respiratory Group and Pediatric Asthma Collaboration Group of the Guangdong Medical Association Pediatric Branch; deputy chair of the Guangzhou Medical Association Pediatric Branch; deputy head of the China Pediatric Bronchoscopy Collaboration Group; and secretary-general of the China Pediatric Sleep Medicine Collaboration Group. Editorial-board member or corresponding editor of Chinese pediatric journals. Graduated from Jinan University Medical College in 1986 with a master’s degree; has over 20 years’ pediatric internal-medicine experience. Main research: pediatric pulmonary function, asthma, fiberoptic bronchoscopy and respiratory infections. In 2009 received one third prize in medical science of the Chinese Medical Sciences and one second prize in the Ministry of Education Natural Science Progress Awards; has published 78 papers. Lu Gen, professor, chief physician, MD and master’s supervisor, is standing committee member of the 2nd Academic Committee of the Asia-Pacific Society of Medical Biology and Immunology; member of the 17th Respiratory Group of the Chinese Medical Association Pediatric Branch, American Thoracic Society member, deputy head of its Immunology Collaboration Group; member of pediatric committees of the Chinese Tuberculosis Association, Chinese Medical Doctor Association Respiratory Physicians Branch, China Maternal and Child Health Association, China Medical Education Association and China Association of Research Hospitals; chair of the Guangdong Biomedical Engineering Association Pediatric and Clinical Engineering Branch; deputy head of the Guangdong Medical Association Rare Disease Respiratory Group; deputy chair of the Guangdong Thoracic Association Pediatric Respiratory Intervention Committee and Guangdong Medical Doctor Association Allergy Working Committee, among other posts. Graduated in pediatric respiratory medicine from Beijing Children’s Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University; has nearly 20 years’ experience and specializes in pediatric bronchoscopy/intervention, congenital bronchopulmonary malformations and wheezing diseases. Received a provincial third prize for medical scientific and technological progress and a municipal second prize for scientific and technological progress. Reviewer for Chinese Journal of Practical Pediatrics; first or corresponding author of 12 SCI papers and more than 10 Chinese Medical Association papers.