Assisted Reproductive Medicine Department

Since the 1980s, under the leadership of the late Director Shao Jingyu, a renowned Chinese expert in gynecological endocrinology, the Department of Assisted Reproductive Medicine was the first in the country to use domestically produced drugs in combination to induce ovulation in the treatment of infertility. Since the 1990s, it began research on the clinical application of in vitro fertilization–embryo transfer; in 1998, our hospital’s first “test-tube baby” was born. In 1999, a 57-year-old woman who had been menopausal for 3 years conceived and gave birth at our hospital through donor-oocyte IVF. In 2002, the hospital obtained approval from the former Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau to carry out artificial insemination with husband’s sperm (AIH). In 2006, it obtained approval from the former Ministry of Health of China for in vitro fertilization–embryo transfer (IVF-ET)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In 2010, it obtained approval from the former Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau to carry out artificial insemination with donor sperm (AID). In 2018, it obtained approval from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission to carry out preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). At present, the hospital is authorized to carry out all permitted assisted reproductive technology access programs. It is a key department of the hospital and was awarded the title of Advanced Collective of the Shanghai Municipal Health System in 2019.

The department currently has 72 medical and nursing staff members, including 1 member of the Standing Committee of the Reproductive Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, 1 lead (young) scientist of a National Key Special Project, and 1 recipient of the Excellent Young Scientists program of the National Natural Science Foundation; there are 9 chief physicians (or chief medical technologists), 9 deputy chief physicians (or deputy chief medical technologists), 1 researcher, 1 associate researcher, 3 doctoral supervisors, and 9 master’s supervisors. Clinical medical and technical personnel generally hold master’s degrees or above, including 31 with doctoral degrees. Specialty outpatient clinics have been opened for reproductive andrology, reproductive genetic counseling, conception assistance through traditional Chinese medicine, infertility, recurrent implantation failure, PCOS-assisted conception, fertility preservation, reproductive endocrinology, and other specific conditions. In 2021, 7341 oocyte retrieval cycles were completed, and the number of outpatient visits exceeded 200000.

In the past 5 years, 61 papers were published, including 17 SCI-indexed research articles; 18 projects at bureau level or above were obtained, with research funding of 1162.7 × 10000 yuan: 6 National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, 1 Outstanding Young Medical Talent Training Program, 1 Qimingxing Program, 2 invention patents, and 2 utility model patents. The department led the formulation of the Chinese Medical Association’s Guidelines for ICSI Operation. Focusing on infertility and abnormalities in gamete and early embryonic development, it received support from multiple national and provincial/ministerial-level projects. In 2016, it was the first to report the establishment of histone modifications during early mammalian embryonic development; it also used low-input omics technologies to reveal the key molecular mechanisms underlying developmental arrest in cloned embryos; and it revealed the mechanism by which abnormalities of the zona pellucida cause infertility and improved the development of embryos fertilized for a short period. Relevant findings were published in Nature, Cell Stem Cell, Human Genetics, Fertility and Sterility, and other journals. The research findings were selected among the China Association for Science and Technology’s 2016 “Top Ten Advances in the Field of Life Sciences in China.” Semen analysis at the andrology laboratory received a quality-control certificate from the German Society of Andrology.

The department provides patients with individualized treatment plans and more considerate, warm, and comfortable services, helping them fulfill their dreams as soon as possible.