Built in 1864, this hospital is one of the first comprehensive hospitals of Western medicine in China. It has 2,350 beds, 62 doctoral advisors, and 122 master’s advisors. There are 25 doctorate programs, 25 postdoctoral fellow research stations, and 36 master’s programs.⁷⁷

The hospital conducts the most variety of organ transplants in Shanghai, spanning 12 categories. Its quantity of transplantations performed ranks first in Shanghai. In August 2001, the Shanghai Clinical Center for Organ Transplantation was established at the hospital. Built upon the “Shanghai Organ Transplantation Research Center” and the “Shanghai Tissue Typing Center,” the Center is based on kidney transplants.⁷⁸

Kidney transplantation traditionally has been a strength of the Urologic Surgery Department and a core component of the Shanghai Organ Transplantation Center (at Shanghai General Hospital). Its website claimed it has performed a total of more than 2,200 kidney transplants. Its comprehensive capabilities are leading domestically and have reached an advanced level internationally.⁷⁹

In 2001, the Shanghai General Hospital Liver Transplant Center became part of the first batch of clinical medical centers built in Shanghai. With the support of higher departments, its clinical scale, quantity, quality, research, hardware, software, and overall capabilities in liver transplantation grew rapidly. In 2001, it performed Shanghai’s first combined liver-kidney transplant. It performs the most combined liver-kidney transplants in China. In 2006, it helped other units in Shanghai perform re-transplants; the hospitalization time for re-transplants averaged 25 days. It performs the most liver transplants among hospitals in Shanghai.⁸⁰

The liver transplant center has separate patient ward with a total of 58 beds. The liver transplant medical team currently has 14 surgeons and physicians, 13 of whom hold doctoral degrees. In addition, it has trained and dispatched more than 10 PhD and master’s students to other centers.

The hospital emphasizes the spread of its work in liver transplantation for use at other medical institutions. It helped drive the development of liver, combined liver-kidney, and combined pancreas-kidney transplants at sister institutions (university-affiliated and provincial hospitals) in eleven provinces and two cities.

Peng Zhihai, director of the Shanghai Organ Transplantation Center, director of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Organ Research Institute, and vice president of Shanghai General Hospital, serves on the Standing Committee of the Chinese Medical Association’s Organ Transplantation Society. He has completed more than 800 liver and multi-organ transplants. He has accomplished one “first in China” and four “first in Shanghai” advancements in the area of liver transplantation methods. The center’s quality and effectiveness of transplantation have taken a leading position in the country.

He has led programs under the National Eleventh Five-Year Plan’s Science and Technology Support Program, key projects under the 863 Program, projects under the National Natural Science Foundation and the Shanghai Science Committee’s “Innovation Action Plan,” as well as multiple other national and Shanghai city-level programs. In 2002, he led the General Surgery Department to receive 7 projects under the National Natural Science Fund. He has been granted four patents.⁸¹

Tan Jianming, director of the Shanghai Research Center for Organ Transplantation, director of the Nanjing Military Research Institute of Organ Transplantation, and simultaneously vice president of Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command, was an adjunct director of the Shanghai Clinical Center for Organ Transplantation for six years, starting in 2001. He has led more than 4,200 kidney transplants as of 2014.⁸²

Tan has undertaken more than ten key national, ministerial, provincial, and military projects. He has edited or participated in the editing of 7 monographs and published 56 papers in domestic and international core journals as the first author. As principal researcher, he has won one second prize of the National Science and

Technology Progress Award, one first prize and 6 third prizes of the PLA Science and Technology Progress Award, and the PLA “Ninth Five-Year Plan” Major Science and Technology Achievement Award.⁸³
Below are transcript excerpts of a phone call between a WOIPFG investigator and the Shanghai General Hospital Liver Transplant Center, published in September 2013:⁸⁴
…

Doctor Dai: Let me tell you, it should be OK to have liver transplant in your case.
Investigator: I just want to know how long we have to wait.
Doctor Dai: We have supplies every day. Today for example, we are performing transplant surgery.
Investigator: Well, I mean not just a fresh one. We need one from live human body…
Doctor Dai: Sure, the organs we use are all from live persons. The donors are all alive.
Investigator: What?
Doctor Dai: They are all organs from live persons! Ours are the best.
……

Investigator: All these organs, they must come from healthy persons. We need the healthy one.
Doctor Dai: I’ll make sure that you’re satisfied after you come.…
Investigator: I heard some come from those who practice qigong. They are very healthy.
Doctor Dai: Yes, we have this type, but I cannot explain to you clearly over the phone.
Investigator: If you could find me one, I will come right away.
Doctor Dai: Of course. Just come over!
Investigator: Oh, you could. Then how do I find you? What’s your last name? I will look for you.
Doctor Dai: I’m Doctor Dai.
Investigator: Which Dai?
Doctor Dai: The ‘Dai’ as in ‘dai mao’ (=wear a hat).