East Campus Rheumatology and Immunology Department

The Department of Rheumatology and Immunology was established in 2000 and has gradually developed into a specialized discipline integrating medical care, teaching, and research. It is Qingdao’s first National Clinical Drug Trial Base specializing in rheumatology and immunology and a training site for master’s students. It served as the chair institution for the 1st, 2nd, and 6th terms of the Rheumatology Branch of the Qingdao Medical Association. It has received the designation of a Category B key discipline in Qingdao’s medical and health system multiple times. The Main Campus has 20 beds, and the East Campus has 30 beds. The discipline has 14 physicians, including 2 chief physicians, 7 deputy chief physicians, 4 attending physicians, and 1 resident physician (2 hold doctoral degrees and 10 hold master’s degrees). It has 1 joint Doppler ultrasound diagnostic system, 1 polarized-light microscope, 1 nailfold microcirculation analyzer, and 1 ultrasound bone densitometer.

The discipline has extensive experience in the early diagnosis and standardized treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Sjögren syndrome, gout, and systemic vasculitis. It has strong capabilities in managing rare rheumatic diseases such as ANCA-associated vasculitis, adult-onset Still’s disease, and IgG4-related disease. It has successfully treated many critical cases, including severe connective-tissue-disease-related interstitial pneumonia, severe lupus, refractory immune thrombocytopenia, alveolar hemorrhage, and autoinflammatory diseases complicated by hemophagocytic syndrome.

It is a member of National CSTAR (Lupus Research Collaborative Organization), a council member institution of the China Rheumatology Medical Alliance, and a deputy-chair institution of the Qingdao Rheumatology and Immunology Specialty Alliance. The discipline’s specialties and technical advantages include:

(1) Inflammatory arthritis subspecialty

As one of the discipline’s technological strengths, biologic agents (TNF-α inhibitors, IL-6, IL-17 inhibitors, and IL-1 inhibitors) are used for precise targeted treatment of inflammatory arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and gouty arthritis). The discipline is a national-level collaborative unit for the diagnosis and treatment of spondyloarthritis, approved following review by the National Clinical Research Center for Immunological Diseases. It has established specialty clinics for rheumatoid arthritis and gout, as well as a multidisciplinary joint clinic for spondyloarthritis. Through early and stratified treatment, it reduces the occurrence of disability and deformity and builds a high-level specialty diagnosis and treatment brand.

(2) Subspecialty of connective-tissue-disease-related interstitial pneumonia

Through standardized, individualized, and multidisciplinary collaborative diagnosis and treatment, the discipline has passed the review for a practice center for connective-tissue-disease-related interstitial pneumonia (CTD-ILD) certified by the National Clinical Research Center for Immunological Diseases. It promotes standardized diagnosis and treatment pathways and the multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment (MDT) model, thereby improving its ability to manage complex conditions such as rapidly progressive ILD.

(3) Systemic lupus erythematosus subspecialty

The discipline conducts individualized assessment, disease stratification, and treatment for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, particularly individualized multitarget therapy and biologic therapy for lupus nephritis, as well as dual-target treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus complicated by pulmonary arterial hypertension. These approaches effectively control disease activity and improve patient prognosis.

It has received 1 Shandong Provincial Medical Science and Technology Progress Award and 1 Provincial Education Commission Science and Technology Progress Award; 2 second prizes and 1 third prize of the Qingdao Science and Technology Progress Award; undertaken more than 10 national-, provincial-, and municipal-level projects; and published more than 50 papers. It has participated in more than 10 international and domestic multicenter Phase II/III clinical trials of new drugs.

It is a master’s graduate student training site for Qingdao University and Shandong Second Medical University and a national standardized residency training base. The department regularly sends, on a rotating basis, young core professionals with strong comprehensive capabilities, high professional standards, and good foreign-language communication skills to high-level professional departments in China and abroad for further study and training. It has trained 1 outstanding discipline leader in Qingdao’s medical and health field and 1 outstanding young medical talent in Qingdao.

It has mature technical expertise in ultrasound-guided arthrocentesis and synovial assessment. It emphasizes chronic disease management and rehabilitation education for rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory arthritis, and connective-tissue-disease-related interstitial pneumonia.

Editing time: 2026/9/17 8:38:48