The Nephrology Department of Renji Hospital was established in the 1970s and is one of the earliest hospitals in our country. The Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Ward was established in the Internal Medicine Ward of Renji Hospital from 1962 to 1963. In the ward, the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine was used to treat kidney disease and renal insufficiency, with the main direction of "conquering the incurable disease - uremia". The Department of Nephrology was established as an independent department since 1976. Under the leadership of all successive directors, Professor Chen Meifang, Professor Zhang Qingyi, Professor Qian Jiaqi, Professor Ni Zhaohui, and Professor Gu Leyi, it has now become a national key clinical specialty, a key department of the Ministry of Education, and one of the first batch of Peritoneal Dialysis Training Center, Shanghai Branch of National Chronic Kidney Disease Clinical Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Uremia Diagnosis and Treatment Center, Shanghai Peritoneal Dialysis Research Center, Asia Pacific Peritoneal Dialysis Clinical College, the country’s first home dialysis training center, and has Molecular Cell Lab for kidney disease, the third level laboratory of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Nephrology Department currently provides outpatient and inpatient services on three campuses (East Campus, West Campus, and South Campus), with a total of 72 specialist beds, 134 hemodialysis machines, and 16 CRRT machines.

The department has a high-quality academic team. Under the leadership of Directors Ni Zhaohui and Gu Leyi, there are currently 49 physicians, including 11 professors and chief physicians, and 8 associate professors and deputy chief physicians. The department is a training center for doctoral and master's degree students in the renal specialty. There are 4 doctoral and 5 master's supervisors. All doctors have a master's degree, and more than 67% have a bachelor's degree. The department focuses on delaying the progression of chronic kidney disease and carrying out clinical and basic research on integrated treatment of end-stage renal disease. The sub-specialties are among acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, prevention and treatment of kidney disease with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, treatment of critical kidney disease, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and kidney transplantation, and have been widely recognized and praised by patients for many years.

Our goals: “domestic pioneering, internationally advancing, and Asia’s first-class” leading;

Our purposes: "Patient first, quality first, science and education developing, and strive to be the first";

Our directions: "First-class quality, first-class service, first-class management, first-class environment".

1. Medical treatment

The Nephrology Department of Renji Hospital consists of the nephrology ward, nephrology outpatient clinic, hemodialysis center, peritoneal dialysis center, molecular cell lab for kidney disease, and renal pathology room. It has 72 specialist beds and has more than 6,000 inpatients annually. The number of annual outpatient visits exceeds 170,000. Many special clinics are also opened, such as lupus nephritis clinic, refractory kidney disease clinic, diabetic nephropathy clinic, gout clinic, chronic kidney disease clinic, peritoneal dailysis clinic, kidney transplant follow-up clinic, urinary tract infection clinic, tumor-related nephropathy, and metabolism-related nephropathy clinic and etc.. There are also expert outpatient clinics, special senior expert outpatient clinics, and appointment outpatient clinics to meet the needs of patients at different levels.

Alternative treatment of end-stage renal disease is also a feature of the department. It has a high status in China and also enjoys a certain reputation abroad. Since 1996, a Sino-foreign cooperative medical institution - "Renji NMC Hemodialysis Center" has been established. The department currently has three hemodialysis centers in the East Branch, West Branch, and South Branch, all of which using the most advanced multi-functional blood purification machines, automatic CRRT machines, and plasma exchange machines in the world. It has begun to develop a series of new technologies in the country, which can perform various blood purification treatments. The department is particularly good at dialysis for difficult, high-risk, emergency patients and the elderly; he uses single- or double-filter plasma exchange to treat various refractory kidney diseases, secondary kidney diseases (including severe lupus erythematosus) and anti-rejection treatment after kidney transplantation. This dialysis center not only pays attention to the quality of dialysis treatment, but also cares about the psychology and quality of life of patients, and regularly carries out a variety of patient education and publicity activities. The Nephrology Department has been responsible for collecting dialysis registration data in Shanghai for 15 consecutive years, and is the only data in China, which has been adopted by the USRDS. The treatment of uremia by peritoneal dialysis is one of the key features of the department. It has a high status in the country and enjoys a high reputation internationally. Related research has won many scientific research awards such as the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. In 2012, it was selected as the Peritoneal Dialysis Training Center of the Ministry of Health. Currently, there are more than 760 peritoneal dialysis patients and more than 530 hemodialysis patients with long-term follow-up. The Department of Nephrology has long adhered to the research of integrating traditional Chinese and Western medicine, applied both traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis, and achieved good results in the treatment of chronic kidney disease, chronic renal insufficiency, and uremia. Its clinical features are the treatment of various difficult and critical kidney diseases, such as primary and secondary kidney diseases including lupus erythematosus nephropathy, diabetic nephropathy, renal hypertension, etc. A series of studies on the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease and diabetic nephropathy with Astragalus won the China Scientific and Technological Progress Award for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine and the Shanghai Scientific and Technological Progress Award for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine.

2. Scientific research

This department has a third-level laboratory of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine - Molecular Cell lab for Kidney Disease. In the past five years, he has presided over more than ten national-level projects and multiple provincial and ministerial-level projects, including key projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It has published nearly 200 papers in various magazines, and more than 100 papers have been included in SCI. The scientific research achievements obtained have won the second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the second prize in the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, the first prize in the China Science and Technology Award for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, the third prize of the Huaxia Medical Science and Technology Award, both the second and third prizes of the Shanghai Medical Science and Technology Award and has won many awards including the second prize of the Shanghai Science and Technology Award for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, and has obtained a number of national invention patents. Many of our doctors participated in the compilation of the Ministry of Health's "Standard Operating Guidelines for Blood Purification 2021 Edition" and "Standard Operating Guidelines for Peritoneal Dialysis". At the same time, many our doctors participated in the preparation of a number of kidney disease diagnoses and treatment standards and guidelines. He is the editor-in-chief of "Clinical Therapeutics", "Clinical Kidney Disease Volume", "Kidney Disease Diet Therapy", "Internal Medicine Outpatient Manual", "Kidney Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies" and other monographs, deputy editor-in-chief of "Peritoneal Dialysis Standard Operating Practices", and participated in the compilation of "Internal Medicine Theory and Practice", "Practical Internal Medicine", "Chinese Internal Medicine", "Clinical Therapeutics", "Practical Nephrology" (1st edition), "Nutrition - Kidney Disease Part", "Merck Manual-17 Edition", "Practical Intensive Care Therapy", "Nephrology", "Chinese Medical Encyclopedia (Nephrology Volume)" and "Chinese Dietary Therapy" and other monographs.

3. Teaching

In the past 10 years, the Department of Nephrology has trained a total of 52 PhD students, 55 master students, and 1 postdoctoral fellow. A large number of doctors from Shanghai and 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country have come to the department for training. So far, more than 100 doctors in the specialty of nephrology have been trained. Chief editor of the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” Medical Organ-System Integration Planning Textbook for National Colleges and Universities - Urinary System, "Complex Diseases of the Urinary System", etc. Since 1997, he has held 23 consecutive national continuing education project "Peritoneal Dialysis Basics and Clinical" classes. It has trained more than 2,000 peritoneal dialysis professionals in the country. In 2003, it was approved by the Ministry of Health as one of the first batches of national continuing medical education and training bases. Responsible for clinical and preliminary teaching work for eight-year, seven-year, and five-year medical university undergraduates (Chinese and English classes) and college students as well as advanced training doctors. Doctor Ni has won the "Baosteel Teaching Award" and many people have been awarded the title of "Excellent Teacher" at the school and college levels.