The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University operates a liver transplant center under the Organ Transplant Research Institute of Sun Yat-Sen University, with which the Guangdong Organ Transplantation Research Center is affiliated. It claims to represent the best skills in China in liver transplantation and is one of the top hospitals in the nation in the total number of liver transplants performed. It is one of the fastest-growing and most promising centers nationwide.³⁵¹

The hospital’s Liver Transplant Center and the Sun Yat-Sen University Organ Transplant Research Institute are a national key specialty under the Ministry of Education and a national key clinical specialty under the Ministry of Health. It is also the Guangdong Province Organ Transplant Research Center and a key specialized medical unit under the Guangdong Province “Eleventh Five-Year Plan.” The Center is a leading institution in southern China and an internationally influential clinical and research center in the Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia region. The Center has five wards and sets its focus on liver, pancreas, small intestine, combined, and complicated transplants. It currently has 113 open beds.³⁵²

Chen Guihua, hospital president and director of the Sun Yat-Sen University Organ Transplant Research Institute, is the director of the Guangdong Medical Association Organ Transplantation Subcommittee, vice director of the China Organ Transplant Association Liver Transplant Group, and director of the Guangdong Province Organ Transplant Research Center. His liver transplant team has another 8 experienced doctors and 28 therapists, including 3 chief and deputy chief surgeons/physicians and 5 attending physicians. All of the surgeons/physicians hold doctoral degrees.³⁵³

The center’s official website stated in 2006 that “director Chen Guihua has served as lead surgeon for more than 1,000 liver transplants in recent years.” ³⁵⁴After the exposure of organ harvesting crimes, Chen’s personal webpage showed that he undertook only over 100 liver transplants. ³⁵⁵ On the night of February 10, 2004, Director Chen oversaw 4 liver transplant operations simultaneously. Chen conducted 246 liver transplants in 2005.³⁵⁶

The liver transplant team has undertaken multiple research projects under the National 973 Program, Ministry of Health key projects, and the Guangdong Province Science Research Foundation. Its grants total to nearly 10 million RMB.³⁵⁷

The hospital began work in kidney transplantation in the 1990s and was one of the earlier units to do so. Its kidney transplant discipline is subordinate to the Guangdong Province Organ Transplant Center and the Sun Yat-Sen University Organ Transplant Research Institute.³⁵⁸

The department is among the top in China and in Guangdong Province for kidney transplants. It has 8 kidney transplant clinical doctors, among whom 4 hold senior titles and 3 hold intermediate titles. It has 6 PhDs, 2 master’s degree holders, and 3 people who have studied abroad. Its lead surgeons have had experience in hundreds of surgeries.

Aside from providing clinical care, the department also conducts clinical research. In recent years, it has published over 200 papers (with 40 in SCI) in the kidney transplantation clinical field in core academic journals inside and outside of China. The department has received more than 20 research grants from international, national, provincial, and city-level foundations. It has received four awards from the American Society of Transplantation and other international transplantation organizations, and some Ministry and provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards.³⁵⁹

Sun Qiquan, director of the kidney transplant department and PhD advisor, studied under the tutelage of kidney disease pioneer and academician Li Leishi. He received post-doctorate training at the Ohio State University Organ Transplant Center in the United States. He previously served as vice president of the Nanjing General Hospital Organ Transplant Center (under the Nanjing Military Command). He has published more than 60 papers (20 in SCI journals). He has participated in the editing of 4 books, including Primer on Transplantation, the official textbook of the American Society of Transplantation. Sun served as the sole East Asian representative on the International Society of Nephrology (ISN)’s Young Nephrologist Committee. He was chairman of the transplantation conference at the 2013 World Congress of Nephrology. In recent years, he has presented his work more than ten times at the World Transplant Conference, the American Transplant Congress, and other venues.³⁶⁰

Professor Hong Liangqing is a kidney transplant expert well-known in Guangdong Province. He is currently on the Guangdong Province Organ Transplant Society Standing Committee and an executive editor of the Organ Transplantation journal.³⁶¹