Loosening the Ties, Legitimizing Innovation: The Renji Hospital Model for Clinical Translation

In 2023, in Hall A of the Suzhou International Expo Center, a chief physician from Shanghai’s urology department was sharing with hundreds of audience members the current status of clinical applications of surgical robots in urological procedures.

He spoke at a leisurely pace, without needing to read from his slides. He alternated between using accessible analogies to explain specialized surgical techniques and engaging in light-hearted interactions with the audience to maintain their attention. With his hands in his pockets as he stood behind the podium, he exuded the effortless poise of a stand-up comedian. His crisp suit and shirt fit him so perfectly that they felt as comfortable as an unbranded, soft white T-shirt, embodying the unique confidence and ease characteristic of Shanghai’s elite professionals.

His name is Xue Wei, and he is one of China’s leading clinical experts in urology. The hospital where he practices is Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine—the first Western-style hospital established in Shanghai after its opening as a treaty port and one of the oldest general Western-style hospitals in China.

In 1844, William Lockhart, a British physician and missionary, adhering to the mission of the Medical Missionary Society in China to disseminate medical knowledge among young people in China, received his first patient in Shanghai at the ground floor of a rented residence near the Great East Gate. Although the clinic was small and had limited capacity, its accessibility and provision of free medical care attracted patients not only from Shanghai, Suzhou, Songjiang, and surrounding areas, but also from as far away as Chongming Island.

This clinic was not only the pioneer of Western medicine clinics in Shanghai but also the predecessor of Shanghai Renji Hospital. After several expansions, it was renamed “Renji Medical Hall,” a name chosen to reflect the ethos of practicing benevolent medicine to aid society. According to reports in Shanghai’s Shun Pao at the time, Renji Medical Hall treated as many as 19,000 patient visits over the preceding two years.

The spirit of practicing medicine to benefit society has endured to this day. Today,Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, has developed into a comprehensive Grade A tertiary hospital integrating medical care, teaching, and scientific research, with 53 clinical and medical technology departments, 2,750 beds, four campuses, and one oncology research institute.。

It is unclear whether this stems from the higher awareness and standards of quality of life in the Shanghai region, but the advantageous departments of Renji Hospital have consistently upheld this tradition.

Renji Hospital has the No. 1-ranked gastroenterology department in China, with 112 inpatient beds. The endoscopy center alone occupies an area of 3,400 square meters, and the laboratory covers an area of 1,200 square meters. In 2023, the department served over 700,000 outpatient visits, and performed 267,000 digestive endoscopic examinations.Ranked first in China for patient volume.

In terms of scientific research, the Department of Gastroenterology at Renji Hospital published a total of 62 SCI-indexed papers in 2023, including 10 articles with an impact factor (IF) > 20 in journals such as NEJM, Cancer Cell, Cell Host & Microbe, Cell Metabolism, Nature Microbiology, Journal of Hepatology, and Gut.The gastroenterology team, led by Professor Fang Jingyuan, Deputy Director of the Hospital, also took the lead in formulating and publishing multiple domestic and international clinical consensus statements and guidelines for diagnosis and treatment.

Renji Hospital’s Department of Rheumatology is also a nationally leading discipline., with 71 beds. In 2023, the outpatient volume approached 300,000 visits, and the annual number of discharged patients exceeded 5,000, of whom 70% were cases involving complex, critical, or severe conditions. It has been the rheumatology specialty with the largest outpatient volume in China for five consecutive years. Under the leadership of Professor Shen Nan, Director of the Department of Rheumatology, the team published one article in Science in 2023 and 14 articles with impact factors greater than 10 (in journals such as Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis & Rheumatology, and Advanced Science).Further consolidated the department’s internationally leading position in the cohort for the diagnosis and treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus.。

Also among the nation’s leading disciplines is the Department of Urology at Renji Hospital, led by Professor Xue Wei, Deputy Dean.. The annual outpatient volume exceeds 400,000 visits, with over 20,000 surgical procedures performed, more than 60% of which are major and complex surgeries. As a clinical center with multiple specialized sub-disciplines (renal tumors, prostate tumors, bladder tumors),Renji Hospital’s Department of Urology is widely recognized as one of the leading urological diagnosis and treatment centers in China and worldwide.

The influence of these leading specialties has also proactively extended to surrounding regions.Initiated by Renji Hospital and jointly established with social capital in 2003Renji Medical Group, leveraging the strong brand of Renji Hospital through investment and trusteeship models,To export management models and technical resources to nearby local hospitals, a multi-pronged expert dispatch strategy is adopted, including long-term stationed assignments, regular rotations, and ad-hoc consultations.Today, the Group operates more than 20 secondary-level and above hospitals, with a strategic presence across the Yangtze River Delta region—within a three-hour drive or one-hour high-speed rail journey from Shanghai.

Surgical expertise has established Renji Hospital’s remarkable competitive advantage, serving as the foundation for each department to pursue breakthroughs in scientific research and innovation through clinical practice.

In terms of research capabilities, Renji Hospital has also demonstrated impressive performance.Renji Hospital has consistently maintained its position as the second-ranked hospital in China on the Nature Index rankings for research strength, with representative highly cited papers published across specialized fields of each department.In 2023, Renji Hospital secured 150 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grants, ranking fifth nationwide and demonstrating remarkable performance.

But how has Renji Hospital addressed the issue prevalent in domestic hospitals where “clinical practice is one thing, publications are another; while research outputs are plentiful, they may not be practically applicable”?

In 2019,Clinical Research Center, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine; Renji Hospital Branch of the Clinical Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineOfficially unveiled and established.

The Center invests RMB 30 million annually to build an innovation hub centered on researchers, providing full-lifecycle support services for clinical research and connecting the upstream and downstream segments of the biopharmaceutical industry. This strategic initiative was spearheaded by Professor Dai Huili, Vice President of Renji Hospital, to promote interdisciplinary integration among its leading departments, enhance research infrastructure, and accelerate the development and quality improvement of clinical research.

In terms of policy, Renji Hospital also successively launched“Measures for the Administration of Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements at Renji Hospital”, “Measures for the Administration of Research Incentive Performance at Renji Hospital”, and “Regulations on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights at Renji Hospital”...and a series of explicit policies to clarify the historical ambiguities surrounding the gray areas in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements by clinical staff in public hospitals.

Meanwhile, hospital management is also preparing the ground for in-house staff.Regular intellectual property asset valuation, online training courses on achievement transformation, the Research Administration Office’s annual one-month touring exhibition of patent achievements, and the framework agreement on platform establishment signed with the Shanghai Technology Exchange, rapidly fostering a favorable atmosphere for the translation of research achievements among hospital staff.

The synergy between software and hardware, coupled with the series of high-level basic research platforms successively established by Renji Hospital—such as the State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, the Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Institute of Immunology Innovation, and the Institute of Aging and Tissue Repair—resembles a line of dominoes poised to fall, accumulating potential energy and awaiting its release.

Soon, the moment to topple the first domino arrived.

In 2022, eight departments, including the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, jointly issued the "Detailed Implementation Rules for Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements in Medical and Health Institutions in Shanghai (Trial)" to facilitate the conversion of such achievements within medical and health institutions.

In the words of Professor Dai Huili, the current “Detailed Rules” have constrained medical institutions’“The thin string was untied.”, finally enabling the translation of achievements“Justified Action”. With official endorsement, a series of market-driven activities previously labeled as operating in a gray area have finally been able to proceed.

The introduction of the “Detailed Rules” serves as a watershed moment, documenting how the clinical momentum accumulated by Renji Hospital has begun to translate into tangible outcomes through the commercialization of innovative achievements.

In the same month that the “Detailed Rules” were introduced, Renji Hospital announced an upgrade to its strategic partnership with United Imaging Healthcare, jointly establishingCenter for Innovative Translational Medicine. Meanwhile, both parties also releasedJoint R&D by Renji-United Imaging Molecular Imaging Research and Development Centermany of the latest advances.

As China’s first innovative molecular imaging R&D center integrating industry, academia, research, and clinical practice, the Renji-United Imaging Molecular Imaging Research Center has focused since its inception on addressing critical bottlenecks in domestically produced medical equipment. Centered on multiple research directions—including “multimodal apparent diffusion MRI,” “theranostic imaging and dose estimation based on UEXPLORER,” and “joint PET/MR reconstruction technology”—the center has advanced 15 clinical research projects and 2 clinical registration trial projects to date.Enterprise collaboration: solid and productive.

2023,Renji Hospital and Zhangjiang Medical Park Are Deeply Integrated, proactively seek to establish long-term collaborative mechanisms with numerous outstanding enterprises in the Zhangjiang Science Park, facilitate in-depth interaction between R&D personnel within these enterprises and clinical researchers at Renji Hospital, maintain effective communication regarding the needs for achievement transformation, and ensure high-quality alignment with enterprises in the Zhangjiang Science Park in top-level design.The ecosystem is being built in a steady and forward-looking manner.

The translation and implementation of outstanding achievements have also been continuous.

In 2022, Renji Hospital signed a technology transfer agreement with Shanghai Xinhe Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Sinopharm Group, for the patent technology titled “Preparation Method and Application of Butenolide Compounds,” with a transfer amount of RMB 10 million. Professor Lin Houwen, the inventor and Director of the Department of Pharmacy at Renji Hospital, discovered a series of butenolide compounds with novel structures from fungal fermentation products, providing new candidate compounds for the development of drugs to treat diabetes and inflammation.

In 2023, Renji Hospital signed a technology transfer agreement with a medical laboratory technology company for the patent titled “Reagent for Detecting Streptococcus constellatus and Its Clinical Application,” with a transfer amount of RMB 2.6 million. Leveraging the discovery of novel biomarkers, Professor Fang Jingyuan’s team pioneered a new approach to gastric cancer screening and early warning, thereby providing new detection technologies and screening strategies for the secondary prevention of gastric cancer.

In 2024, Renji Hospital signed a technology transfer agreement with Shanghai Elife Medical Technology Co., Ltd. for the patented technology of “a dedicated oropharyngeal channel for endoscopic surgery.” Professor Su Diansan, the inventor, specializes in airway management during anesthesia for painless gastrointestinal endoscopy. His patented technology has effectively reduced the incidence of hypoxic events during such procedures, significantly enhancing patient comfort and safety.

Freed from constraints, Renji Hospital quickly embraced the market-oriented characteristics of the Shanghai region and found a flourishing path in innovation and translation.

It is evident that the innovations and achievements in technology transfer at Renji Hospital, a time-honored institution with traditionally strong departments, have been centrally driven by the promulgation of the Detailed Implementation Rules in 2022.

In terms of internal capabilities, Renji Hospital boasts unquestionable clinical expertise and a robust foundation for practice derived from its multiple campuses. Clinical research and clinical practice complement each other through extensive hands-on operations. The hospital’s management has also dedicated sufficient time to building consensus on the internal policies and processes for the translation of research achievements into practical applications.

In terms of external collaboration and development, leveraging the established market-oriented characteristics of Shanghai and its surrounding areas, Renji Hospital’s various departments have maintained close communication and clinical cooperation with the market at a more granular, micro level over the long term.

Following the introduction of more explicit regulatory frameworks at both the municipal and national levels, a cohort of hospitals and clinical professionals, represented by Renji Hospital, has finally gained formal recognition for their bidirectional engagement with the industry and the market, resulting in significantly enhanced autonomy and flexibility. It is believed that 2022 will mark a landmark milestone for Renji Hospital in translating its achievements into market-ready applications.