Allergy Department (Allergology Department)

The Department of Allergy (Allergology) of Renji Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, is a national clinical key specialty development unit in allergology, one of Renji Hospital’s distinctive specialties, and one of the earliest institutions established in China for the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases. It maintains academic exchanges and cooperation with multiple high-level international and domestic allergy prevention and control institutions and enjoys a high national reputation. It was founded under the leadership of renowned Chinese allergologists Professors Xu Yiping and Guo Yinshi. Professor Xu was a founder of the Allergology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and founder of the Shanghai Society of Allergology; he served as Vice Chair of the 1st–2nd sessions of the former and Chair of the 1st–2nd sessions of the Allergology Specialty Branch of the Shanghai Medical Association. Professor Guo served as Vice Chair of the 5th–6th sessions of the former; Vice Chair of the Allergy Medicine Branch of the China International Medical Promotion Association; Vice President of the Allergists Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association; Standing Committee Member of the Professional Committee for Prevention and Control of Allergic Diseases of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association; Chair of the 5th session of the Allergology Branch of the Shanghai Medical Association; and founding President of the Allergists Branch of the Shanghai Medical Doctor Association. The current Director, Professor Chen Xiaoxiang, is a part-time reviewer for the National Center for Drug Evaluation (CFDA), a primary-review expert for the National Natural Science Foundation of China, a youth member of the Rheumatology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, a member of the Expert Committee of the Genetic Immunology Branch of the Shanghai Society for Immunology, a youth member of the Infection and Chemotherapy Group of the Shanghai Medical Association, and a reviewer for Modern Immunology and Fudan University Journal. The department has allergy, disease-specific, expert and special-needs outpatient clinics; a specialty ward; allergen testing, standardized immunotherapy (desensitization and biological targeted therapy), and allergy laboratories. Allergen diagnosis covers inhaled, ingested, contact and injectable allergens. It has internationally advanced fully automated in-vitro systems and performs skin-prick, intradermal and patch tests, as well as difficult food and drug in-vivo/in-vitro provocation tests, establishing a relatively complete specific and nonspecific diagnostic system. It has established a standardized allergen-specific immunotherapy center (International Quality Assurance Program for Allergen Standardization/IQAP certified), providing specific and nonspecific immunotherapy, integrated Chinese and Western medicine, biological targeted therapy, subcutaneous/sublingual/oral desensitization, biologic-combination desensitization, allergen monitoring and control, and other measures, thereby building a relatively complete prevention and standardized diagnosis-and-treatment system. The department has achieved advanced results concerning mites and bronchial asthma; “Mite Allergy and Bronchial Asthma” received the Second Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress from the former State Education Commission. It has helped formulate more than ten Chinese guidelines or expert consensuses. In 2022 it received a merit commendation from the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. Its disease spectrum includes allergic rhinitis/sinusitis, allergic conjunctivitis, bronchial asthma, chronic cough, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA), hypersensitivity pneumonitis, urticaria, angioedema (including hereditary angioedema HAE), atopic dermatitis (eczema), contact allergic dermatitis, allergic purpura, severe allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock, food allergy, drug allergy, environmental-factor allergy, eosinophilic diseases (including eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis EGPA, eosinophilic gastroenteritis-esophagitis, bronchitis and others), and immunoglobulin E (IgE)-elevated diseases.