Department of Liver Surgery

Under the leadership and efforts of pioneering surgeons such as Professors Zeng Xianjiu and Zhong Shouxian, the Department of Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital began performing liver surgeries in the 1950s, making it one of the earliest hospitals in China to conduct liver resections. It has since developed from the basic surgical liver specialty group into an independent Department of Liver Surgery, continuously growing through sustained construction and development.

Professor Huang Jiefu, former Vice Minister of Health, serves as the honorary director of the department. He is a renowned expert in liver surgery both nationally and internationally, recognized as a key figure and academic leader during the second wave of liver transplantation in China in the mid-1990s. He is the chairman of the Chinese Organ Transplantation Committee (OTC) and a lifetime member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, as well as a visiting professor at Harvard University, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has dedicated many years to surgical research in liver transplantation and hepatobiliary malignancies, achieving profound academic accomplishments and excelling in complex liver surgeries and the treatment of critical illnesses. Professor Huang has received six provincial and ministerial-level research awards, authored 11 surgical monographs, and contributed to five surgical textbooks. He has published over 160 papers in influential journals both domestically and internationally, and serves as an editor, associate editor, and editorial board member for more than ten journals, including the Chinese Medical Journal, Chinese Journal of Surgery, Chinese Journal of General Surgery, and Chinese Journal of Hepatobiliary Surgery.

The chief expert of the Department of Liver Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital is Professor Zhong Shouxian, a highly respected senior figure in the surgical community. Throughout his nearly half-century surgical career, he has achieved numerous surgical miracles, earning widespread acclaim among peers. Professor Zhong graduated from Kharkiv Medical Institute in the former Soviet Union and further studied surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States. He has worked on the clinical front line for many years, possessing a solid and extensive theoretical foundation and rich clinical experience. His surgical skills are exceptional, adept at resolving various complex abdominal surgical issues and managing severe postoperative complications. He has profound expertise in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, making significant contributions to the development of pancreatic and liver surgery in China. In the late 1970s, under the personal attention of Director Zeng Xianjiu, he established the first pancreatic surgery department in China at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Professor Zhong has long served as the representative member of the Chinese Society of Surgery in the International Surgical Society. Under his direct leadership, the first liver transplantation surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital was performed. He has held editorial positions in over ten surgical professional journals, including the Chinese Journal of Surgery and the Chinese Journal of General Surgery, and has contributed to nearly 20 surgical monographs, including Huang Jiasu's Surgery, Modern Gastroenterology, Clinical Pancreatology, Surgical Clinical Guidelines, and Abdominal Emergency Medicine, and has edited Pancreatic Surgery and Pancreatic Surgery Science. He is currently a member of the Central Health Care Group and enjoys a special state allowance.

The Department of Liver Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital has a well-established talent team, currently comprising four doctoral supervisors, three master's supervisors, five full professors, five associate professors, one attending physician, and three resident physicians, all holding doctoral degrees. Several department members serve as editors, associate editors, and editorial board members for journals such as the Chinese Journal of Surgery, Chinese Journal of General Surgery, Chinese Journal of Practical Surgery, Chinese Journal of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Journal of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Chinese Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The treatment projects undertaken by the department include the diagnosis and treatment of benign and malignant liver diseases, including comprehensive treatments involving surgery (open or laparoscopic), chemotherapy, interventional therapy, and biological therapy; liver transplantation; and the diagnosis and treatment of complex abdominal diseases and other related conditions. Leveraging the hospital's strong comprehensive diagnosis and treatment platform, the department has successfully treated various complex hepatobiliary conditions, including the world's first case of primary epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the liver, with a low incidence of complications from various hepatobiliary surgeries and a shorter average postoperative hospital stay. In 2010, it was jointly selected as a clinical key specialty construction project by the National Health and Family Planning Commission along with the Basic Surgery Department.

The Department of Liver Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital emphasizes clinical and basic research, with rich research outcomes. The department maintains collaborative exchanges with renowned international institutions such as Harvard University, the University of Chicago, UCSF, and the University of Western Ontario in Canada, as well as with prestigious research institutes such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Beijing Normal University, Beihang University, the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The department has published dozens of high-level SCI articles in internationally recognized journals as the first or corresponding author, undertaken numerous national key R&D funds and provincial-level research projects, and established a high-quality biobank and long-term follow-up database for liver surgery. The department has received collective research awards from Peking Union Medical College Hospital for several consecutive years.

The Department of Liver Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital recruits a certain number of advanced training physicians each year, providing them with theoretical and practical training. It is also responsible for the education and training of eight-year medical students at the Peking Union Medical College, as well as the training of graduate students.