Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery

The Department of Plastic Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University is one of the founding institutions of plastic surgery in Heilongjiang Province. Established in September 1989, it has achieved a leading overall position in the province through the persistent efforts of several generations, including Professor Dong Zhong. The department has become the chairing institution of the Plastic Surgery Professional Committee of the Heilongjiang Medical Association and, in 2000, became one of the earliest doctoral degree-awarding sites in the field of plastic surgery in Heilongjiang. It currently has 12 beds, 13 doctors, and 7 nurses.

Our department is the only doctoral program in plastic surgery in the province. Director Xiao Zhibo is the only doctoral supervisor in our province who recruits doctoral students in plastic surgery. He is also associate editor of a national 13th Five-Year Plan textbook for higher medical institutions. Under his leadership, the plastic surgery department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University has further developed its discipline, medical services, academic standards, talent training, and medical equipment. Director Xiao Zhibo is a national committee member of the Plastic Surgery Society of the Chinese Medical Association and also chairs the Plastic Surgery Branch of the Heilongjiang Medical Association; he has organized numerous academic conferences. Clinically, despite the impact of the pandemic and competition from private cosmetic institutions, outpatient and inpatient volumes did not decline but increased substantially over the previous year. Outpatient and emergency visits increased by 46.73%, while inpatient numbers and day surgeries also increased markedly and the average length of stay was greatly reduced. Research has also made significant progress: Li Ning obtained one undergraduate higher-education teaching-reform project from the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Education; Peng Yixuan received funding for the 2022 New Era Outstanding Master’s and Doctoral Dissertation in Longjiang project; and Wu Hao, a doctoral student supervised by Director Xiao Zhibo, received the 2022 first-class National Scholarship for Graduate Students, achieving a historic breakthrough. In talent development, Associate Chief Physician Li Ning completed a one-year advanced training program in reconstructive surgery at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital in June 2022, while the department simultaneously assigned Attending Physician Liu Ying to undertake a one-year advanced training program there. In teaching, the department successfully completed the instruction of students in all tracks and standardized-training residents, earning unanimous praise with no teaching accidents. The department has also made substantial progress in scar molecular biology and in research on adipose-derived stem-cell exosomes promoting diabetic wound healing, attracting considerable attention from scholars in China and abroad.