Allergy Department

Tongji Hospital's Department of Allergy was founded in 1997, and its current academic leader is Zhu Rongfei. It is a National Clinical Key Specialty, with three subspecialties and specialized laboratories for respiratory allergies, skin allergies, food and drug allergies, and severe allergic reactions. It is the largest allergy center in central China integrating medical care, teaching, and research, and currently operates clinical units at the Main Campus, Optics Valley Campus, and Sino-French New City Campus. The Department of Allergy is a demonstration outpatient unit for allergen-specific immunotherapy in China and a national clinical trial base for allergy medicines. It has established the Tongji Allergy Disease Medical Consortium and the Tongji Hospital Institute of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. It is also a member unit of the Hubei Provincial Clinical Medical Research Center for Nasal Inflammatory Diseases and the Hubei Provincial Engineering Center for Technology Transfer in Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Nasal Diseases. In 2024, it became the first Center of Excellence for Allergy in mainland China to receive certification from the World Allergy Organization (WAO). The department currently has 18 medical, nursing, and technical staff members, including one physician with a senior professional title, three physicians with associate-senior titles, and one doctoral supervisor. Three of our physicians serve as chairs, vice-chairs, standing committee members, or hold other positions in national, Hubei Provincial, and Wuhan medical societies. Zhu Rongfei is a standing committee member of the Allergy Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and the Allergy Disease Prevention and Control Committee of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association; a deputy director of the Allergy Medicine Committee of the Chinese Research Hospitals Association and the Allergy Committee of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine; and a standing council member of the Hubei Provincial Preventive Medicine Association and director of its Allergy Disease Prevention and Control Committee. Huang Nan is deputy director of the Allergy Physicians Branch of the Wuhan Medical Doctor Association. Chen Hao is a youth committee member and secretary of the Allergy Disease Prevention and Control Committee of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, as well as a standing committee member of the Allergy Physicians Branch of the Wuhan Medical Doctor Association. Based on internationally standardized diagnostic and treatment protocols for allergic diseases, the department mainly performs allergen skin-prick tests, allergen intradermal tests, allergen skin-patch tests, serum-specific IgE and IgG4 testing, serum C1 inhibitor activity testing, basophil activation tests, exhaled nitric oxide testing, pulmonary function tests, food and drug challenge tests, conventional desensitization, cluster desensitization, rush desensitization, oral food desensitization, and biologic targeted therapy. It is particularly experienced in treating allergic asthma, cough-variant asthma, allergic bronchopulmonary fungal disease, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, allergic pharyngolaryngitis, urticaria, atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, allergic purpura, food allergy, drug allergy, and severe allergic reactions. It also has a high level of diagnostic and treatment expertise for uncommon and rare diseases such as hereditary angioedema, allergic gastroenteritis, and insect-venom allergy. In recent years, the department has achieved notable results in clinical care, research, and teaching, including the following: 1. Edited China's first standardized national undergraduate textbook (2014); principal contributors: Liu Guanghui and Zhu Rongfei. 2. Established an online allergy database; its AIT cloud APP won first prize in Wuhan's Internet Plus Health Project (2017); principal contributor: Huang Nan. 3. Led and participated in the development of multiple expert consensuses and group standards (2020–2024); principal contributors: Zhu Rongfei and Chen Hao. 4. Established an airborne allergen monitoring network and a biobank of biological samples for allergic diseases (2021); principal contributors: Li Wenjing, Yang Lin, and Zhu Rongfei. 5. Won one first prize for scientific and technological progress from Hubei Province; principal contributors: Zhu Rongfei, Huang Nan, and Chen Hao. 6. Undertook more than 10 national-, ministerial/provincial-, and municipal-level research projects, including projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and key programs of the Ministry of Science and Technology; published more than 100 papers in Chinese and international professional journals, including Allergy and the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice; led or participated in more than 40 Phase I–IV drug clinical-trial projects; and obtained seven utility-model patents and one software copyright.