Rheumatology and Immunology

The Rheumatology and Immunology outpatient clinic of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, opened in 2008, merged into the Department of Dermatology in 2012, and was formally established as an independent department on October 28, 2019. It is a comprehensive department integrating medical care, scientific research, and teaching. The Rheumatology and Immunology Department operates renowned-physician, specialist, and general outpatient clinics at the Qingchun, Qiantang, Grand Canal, and Shaoxing campuses. After the department was formally established, it gradually added specialty clinics for myositis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout/pseudogout, lupus erythematosus and vasculitis, ankylosing spondylitis, and other conditions. It currently has an average annual outpatient volume of more than 50,000 visits. Inpatients are centrally treated at the Qingchun Campus, which currently has 3000 admissions annually. With the development of the discipline, it now has 17 specialized physicians (including 2 with senior professional titles and 9 with intermediate professional titles), of whom 5 have doctoral degrees and 12 have master's degrees. The discipline has a well-structured personnel echelon and strong technical capabilities, and is a rheumatology and immunology diagnosis and treatment center renowned both in China and internationally.

Technical Advantages

1. Early diagnosis, standardized treatment, and long-term management of various rheumatic diseases: The department has deep expertise in the clinical diagnosis and treatment and basic research of rheumatic diseases and works closely with the fields of ultrasound, imaging, pharmacy, and others. It has extensive experience in the early diagnosis, standardized treatment, and long-term management of rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, myositis, vasculitis, Sjögren syndrome, and gout.

2. Exploration of rare and genetic diseases: For rare rheumatic diseases such as systemic sclerosis and IgG4-related disease, as well as adult autoinflammatory diseases and genetic diseases, the department has cutting-edge approaches to early diagnosis and precise technical support.

3. Research foundation in cell therapy: The department has a solid research foundation in precision-targeted treatment for autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.

Academic Standing

National Health Commission Internal Medicine Residency Training Base

Research Achievements

Through the close cooperation and joint efforts with Professor Lu Linrong and Professor Zhou Qing of Zhejiang University, a close scientific research cooperation platform has been established with the Immunoregulation Laboratory of the Institute of Immunology of Zhejiang University and the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Life System Homeostasis and Protection. Since the team was established, it has published more than 20 SCI papers in total, with a highest single-paper impact factor of 21.8. It has led and participated in more than 30 scientific research projects, including 8 national-level scientific research projects and 6 provincial- and ministerial-level scientific research projects led by the team; among the projects led by the team are also one National Key Fund project and one Regional Innovation Key Project jointly submitted with Professor Lu Linrong’s team. A project in which the discipline participated as a subcenter received the First Prize of the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award.