Occupational Diseases Department

The Department of Occupational Diseases at Peking University Third Hospital (北医三院) is one of the earliest departments in China to conduct clinical research on occupational diseases and one of the most distinctive clinical departments of our hospital. In 2010, it was selected for a key clinical discipline project of the Ministry of Health; in 2013, it took the lead in establishing the Occupational Diseases Branch of the Beijing Medical Association; in 2014, it became a clinical base for occupational diseases of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; in 2015, it became the lead institution of the Beijing Occupational Health Examination Quality Control and Improvement Center; and in 2021, it became a technical support institution for Beijing pneumoconiosis rehabilitation stations. After six decades of development, the Department of Occupational Diseases has brought together a group of renowned occupational disease experts from China and abroad and enjoys a high reputation in the medical care, teaching, research, prevention and health care, rehabilitation, and health management of occupational diseases.

The Occupational Disease Research Center originated as the Occupational Disease Specialty Group of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical College. It was established in 1959 by Wang Shijun, a renowned professor of internal medicine, and was formally reorganized as the Department of Occupational Diseases in 1972, when a research laboratory was also established. In 1985, the Department of Occupational Diseases was expanded into the Occupational Disease Research Center, one of the first ten research centers established by Beijing Medical University and the only doctoral training site in clinical occupational medicine in China. In 2003, following promulgation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases, Peking University Third Hospital (北医三院) was among the first to pass the qualification assessment and inspection conducted by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau for occupational health technical service institutions, and was approved as one of Beijing’s first medical institutions with diagnostic, treatment, and occupational health surveillance capabilities covering nearly the entire range of occupational diseases. In accordance with the Measures of Beijing Municipality for the Record-filing Administration of Occupational Health Examination Institutions and the Implementing Measures of Beijing Municipality for the Record-filing Administration of Occupational Disease Diagnosis Institutions, the record-filing of occupational health examination institutions and occupational disease diagnosis institutions was completed in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Over 60 years of development, the Department of Occupational Diseases has consistently remained committed to its mission and served society, providing high-level, high-quality medical services for occupational disease prevention and control in China and Beijing. In addition to providing occupational disease diagnosis and treatment for outpatients and inpatients of our hospital, it also undertakes important tasks such as emergency rescue and consultations for acute and severe occupational illnesses in Beijing and across the country, as well as diagnostic appraisal of difficult occupational diseases and assessment of the degree of disability caused by occupational diseases. Peking University Third Hospital (北医三院) not only has a dedicated Department of Occupational Diseases but, from the very beginning of its establishment, also assigned professional personnel and equipment in major clinical departments such as ophthalmology, dermatology, otolaryngology, stomatology, and radiology to provide specialized services for special occupational injuries. This has made Peking University Third Hospital one of the few medical institutions nationwide capable of providing high-level diagnosis, treatment, and occupational health surveillance for occupational diseases involving virtually all specialties. In 1996, with approval from Beijing Medical University, the Department established an allergy outpatient clinic on the basis of the original immunology group, expanding its scope to other immune diseases, including autoimmune diseases. In 1999, it pioneered the opening in China of a “Chemical Poisoning Clinic”; the pneumoconiosis specialty also added an environmental lung disease outpatient clinic, bringing pulmonary damage caused by environmental pollutants and other factors within its diagnostic and treatment scope. In addition, we are skilled at identifying problems and summarizing experience in clinical practice and have progressively carried out research on quality management in occupational disease prevention and control. During the formulation and revision by the state of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases and other occupational health laws and regulations, we provided health administrative authorities with scientific opinions and suggestions for establishing occupational disease prevention and control systems consistent with actual conditions. In response to new circumstances, in 2021, the Department of Occupational Diseases of Peking University Third Hospital (北医三院) undertook and completed, at the commission of the Department of Occupational Health of the National Health Commission (国家卫健委), the project entitled “Science Popularization Guide for the Prevention and Control of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders,” and promoted it to the public during the 2022 publicity week for the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases. In 2022, it took the lead in a preliminary research project on the Diagnostic Criteria for Occupational Musculoskeletal Diseases.

Over the past 60 years, the Department of Occupational Diseases has achieved gratifying results in research on pneumoconiosis, poisoning, occupational asthma, and other conditions. It has published nearly 600 research papers, issued more than 10 monographs, and received more than 10 national- and provincial-/ministerial-level awards. As a department of an important clinical teaching hospital in China, it has continuously undertaken the training of advanced professional personnel, including undergraduates, trainees, visiting physicians, and postgraduate students. It has organized more than 20 national-level continuing education and training programs and is one of the most influential domestic training bases for clinical occupational disease professionals.