This hospital is one of the largest medical institutions in Shanxi Province. Its heart, liver, and combined pancreas-kidney transplants were firsts in the province.⁶⁴³

In 2000, this hospital sent a liver transplant team to Tianjin First Central Hospital for systematic training. The two hospitals have maintained close cooperation. In the same year, it carried out the first combined liver-kidney transplant in the province. Its liver transplant capabilities have led the province.

Yet, the hospital’s website shows that it has completed 23 liver transplants to date–a number is equivalent to fewer than two cases per year, even less than the minimum requirement to qualify as a transplant center approved by the Ministry of Health. Thus, this figure is most likely falsified.⁶⁴⁴

Xu Jun, the vice president of Shanxi Provincial People’s Hospital and director of its General Surgery Department, studied liver transplantation and perioperative management as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute in 2003 and 2004, where he trained under Professor Thomas E. Starzl, the world’s “father of liver transplantation.”

Upon Xu’s return to China, he started clinical liver transplantation in Shanxi Province.⁶⁴⁵ He managed a number of provincial-level liver transplantation research projects and conducted in-depth studies on immunological tolerance in solid organ transplantation. He has received a number of provincial honors and awards for his achievements.⁶⁴⁶