Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Second Medical University was established in the 50’s of the last century. Under the leadership of Prof. Kuang Ankun, the late famous endocrinologist and such domestic well-known experts as Prof. Chen Jialun, Prof. Xu Manyin and Prof. Luo Bangyao through the continuous development for more than 50 years at present this specialty is the key discipline of State Education Commission, Key Laboratory of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of State Ministry of Public Health and a key construction discipline of 211 Engineering and has become the most important base at home for the basic and clinical research of endocrine and metabolic diseases. Our Department now has 60 sickbeds, among which are 6 sickbeds for special needs entering to the requirements at different levels and 24 physicians on the staff, among whom are 2 tenured professors, 5 professors and 4 associate professors. This Discipline is in the lead at home in basic and clinical research of diabetes, has formed its distinctive features in diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and its chronic complications, self-care and propaganda and education of diabetes and has done a lot of highly effective work in respect of insulin resistance, type Ⅱ diabetes, IGT, obesity, abnormal blood-lipid and the role primary hypertension plays in coronary heart disease and won a third Prize for Progress in Science and Technology of Shanghai Municipality and a second Prize for the First Session Ruijin Therapeutic Fruits. This Discipline is in the lead at home in the diagnosis and treatment of pituitary-adrenal diseases. Since the diagnosis and treatment of the first case of primary aldosteronism at home the Department has diagnosed and treated nearly 1000 cases of primary aldosteronism, over 600 cases of Cushing’s syndrome and over 300 cases of pheochromocytoma, among which the case of primary aldosteronism is one of the largest series on the globe. “Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Aldosteronism” has won a second Prize for Progress in Science and Technology of State, a second Prize for Progress in Science and Technology of Ministry of Public Health and Shanghai Municipality. This Discipline has accumulated precious experiences in diagnosis and treatment of thyropathy, pancreopathy and diabetes insipidus etc., having considerable influences in the country. In recent years this Discipline has addressed itself to the clinical and basic research of obesity and osteoporosis etc. and obtained a large number of fruits and is one of the units that were the earliest to carry out systematic research in this connection. “Taking the patients as the center and continuously enhancing the quality of treatment” is the aim of Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases. At the same time it established the detection targets for diabetes and its complications and established earlier in the country Section for Non-invasive Determination of Diabetic Neural Function, by means of which diabetic neuropathy can be diagnosed from neural evoked potential, sensory nerve, cardiac autonomic nerve and gastrointestinal autonomic nerve, enhancing the ability to diagnose diabetic neural complications and forming a series of effective therapies.

The Diabetes Center of Ruijin Hospital was established in 1994 and since then has always addressed itself to the education, prevention and treatment of diabetes. In recent years the Diabetes Center, apart from continuously strengthening its coordination with other hospitals and training of teachers of diabetes, has been the first across the country to establish therapeutic educational projects for diabetics, systematically carrying out education of the victims. Among them are the education of a big group consisting of hundreds of persons, the education of a group consisting of 20～30 persons with their relatives invited for participation and a team consisting of physicians, nurses and nutritionists and strengthened education carried out around diabetes difficult to cure etc.. The project introduced the schedule of evaluating the educational result of diabetes abroad and initially developed the evaluation schedule suited for the Chinese patients. Up to now the number of persons for group education whose project has been carried out has reached 3000 while the number of victims for individualized strengthened education is nearly 300. Through years’ clinical practice nonstop the victims participating in this project all have achieved satisfactory therapeutic results. With the education of the group the victims’ average blood glucose was controlled at the rate of over 50% while with the strengthened education it was 80%. In the course of unfolding the education of the victims the project group paid special attention to the establishment of an atmosphere in which the victims offered as a tribute and helped each other. Let’s take the group education for example. All the participating victims while having a free diabetic nutritious lunch symbolically offered one yuan used to purchase diabetic tools or in other ways helped those diabetics and their families impoverished by illness. The continuous development of the victims’ therapeutic educational project in the Diabetic Center is welcome to all circles of society and broad victims.

With the concerted efforts made by several generations represented by such famous experts of internal medicine and endocrinology as Prof. Kuang Ankun, Prof. Chen Jialun, Prof. Xu Manyin and Prof. Ding Ting, famous medical expert and biochemist and others, the Department established Research Section of Endocrinology of Shanghai Second Medical University in the 60’s of the last century and at the end of the 70’s established Shanghai Endocrine and Metabolic Disease Institute, becoming a degree station for our country’s first batch of Ph. D students containing the two specialties of endocrinology and endocrinology of traditional Chinese medicine combined with Western medicine and subsequently fixed as a mobile disciplinary station for postdoctorals of clinical medicine. In October 1994 this Discipline was approved as Key Laboratory of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of Ministry of Public Health, entrusted by Chinese Medical Association, took charge of the editorial work and publication of “Chinese Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases”, in 1989 and 1990 was successively chosen as a key discipline of State Education Commission and of Bureau of Higher Education of Shanghai Municipality and in 2001 passed the initial examination for a key discipline by State Education Commission. In its continuous development this Discipline has persisted in attaching equal importance to teaching and research and in integrating the two of them, in respect of overall actual strength is one of the most important research centers of endocrine and metabolic diseases, has formed distinctive features of its own in many aspects and is developing synchronously with the international advanced level. In respect of diabetes it has accomplished multiple items of clinical research and has obtained a series of important results in research of scanning and screening genome of susceptible gene locuses of type Ⅱ diabetes of Chinese Han nationality and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. Not only is its clinical research still in the lead at home but also its basic research is in the lead at home and is in an advanced position internationally. In recent years the establishment of pituitary-adrenal gene pool and the discovery of new genes have been highly evaluated both at home and abroad. This Discipline has reached the best level since its establishment in respect of either basic construction or echelon construction and represents the highest level of our country, possessing the actual strength for participating in international competition. The establishment of micro, rapid and accurate methods of detecting all kinds of hormones has considerably enhanced the level of diagnosing endocrine and metabolic diseases. At present it has become the center of carrying out the most detection items of endocrine and metabolic hormones nationwide.

This Discipline has formed an academic echelon with relatively strong actual force, possesses a few domestically well-known endocrinologists who have relatively high academic position and considerable celebrity both at home and abroad. At present it has 10 professors, 7 associate professors, 22 physicians with intermediate academic titles, 15 Ph. D and 12 masters, having formed an academic echelon with relatively strong actual force. Prof. Chen Jialun, leading person of the Discipline is director member of Endocrinology Society of Chinese Medical Association for two sessions, general editor of “Chinese Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases” for two sessions, director member of Sub-Committee of Drugs for Endocrine and Rhematic Diseases of New Drug Evaluation and Examination Committee for two sessions and leader of Clinical Pharmacology Group of Pharmacopeia Committee for Clinical Medicine of Ministry of Public Health, member of Disciplinary Evaluation Group of Degree Committee of the State Council for two sessions, member of the Central Committee of International Endocrinology Association for two sessions and deputy chairman of Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association for two sessions etc.. Experts of the older generation still play a role in determining the orientation of development of the Discipline and directing research work.

In recent years the young scientific and research technicians and graduate students have made a lot of progress in research of scanning and screening of whole genome, gene mutation, gene difference analysis, protein purification, structure and function with initial formation of young basic scientific and research ranks of research from nucleic acid to protein with ability to take strong fortifications.