Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) is a key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of China and is also one of the oldest universities in China. The predecessor of Xi'an Jiaotong University was Nanyang College, which was founded in 1896 in Shanghai and renamed Jiaotong University in 1921. In 1956, the main part of Jiaotong University was relocated to Xi'an according to the decision of the State Council, and this relocated part of Jiaotong University was later officially renamed Xi'an Jiaotong University in 1959. In 2000, approved by the State Council, the former Xi'an Medical University and former Shaanxi Institute of Finance and Economics were merged with Xi'an Jiaotong University to form the new XJTU now. XJTU, as one of the first batch of the universities in China to receive support from the central Government at the seventh and eighth "five-year" plan, as well as China's “Project 211” and “Project 985” to develop into a world-class university. XJTU is also on the list of National Double First-class Universities in Category A released in 2017 by the Ministry of Education.

XJTU is a comprehensive research university with 10 major categories of disciplines: science, engineering, medicine, economics, management, humanities, law, philosophy, education and art, with medical education as its significant integral part.

Historical Development in Medical Education

XJTU Health Science Center is located in the cultural district of the southern suburb in Xi'an, adjacent to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Small Wild Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum, Tang Paradise and other scenic spots, and it serves as palace for seeking after the truth and it is one of the cradles for cultivating advanced medical talents in China.

Health Science Center (HSC) of Xi’an Jiaotong University was preceded by Public Peking Medical School, founded on October 26, 1912. As the first national school of Western medicine, it was then renamed as Peking University Medical School in November 1928 and it took studying advanced knowledge and cultivating specialized medical talents as its mission.

In 1937, the all-out war against Japanese invasion broke out. To protect the traditions in medicine, the faculty and students were relocated to Shaanxi in western China, with the long and arduous journey for more than three months, and finally arrived at Xi'an, forming Xi'an Temporary University Medical College. It was extremely difficult to develop medical education during the war, but it began to take root in Shaanxi and blazed a trail in higher medical education in the northwest of China. It changed names several times during the period, and was renamed Northwest Medical College in 1950, Xi'an Medical College in 1956 and Xi'an Medical University in 1985, becoming one of 11 universities directly under the former Ministry of Health. In April, 2000, approved by the State Council, the former Xi'an Medical University and former Shaanxi Institute of Finance and Economics were merged with Xi'an Jiaotong University, it was renamed Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical School. In June, 2012, and it was renamed Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center.

HSC Organization Structure

Under XJTU strong leadership and support, HSC coordinates in the affairs of teaching, research and medical services of medical education. HSC has 5 functional offices, namely General Office, Department of Education, Human Resources Department, Department of Science and Technology and Discipline Construction, Department of Hospital Management; 8 teaching departments, i.e., School of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Public Health, School of Pharmacy, School of Forensic Medicine, Department of Nursing, First Affiliated Hospital, Second Affiliated Hospital, Hospital of Stomatology; 6 research institutes, i.e., Institute of Translational Medicine Research, Institute of Medical Interdisciplinary Research, Institute of Vascular Medicine Research, Institute of Biology Evidence Research, Institute of Biomedical Research，Global Health Institute, Institute of Biological Diagnosis and Therapy, and several teaching and research institutes, such as Laboratory Animal Center, Biomedical Experimental Research Center, Key Laboratory of Environment and Disease Related Genes under the Ministry of Education, and Institute of Medical Education.

Disciplinary Construction

HSC has 6 first-level disciplines authorized to confer doctorate degrees,namely Biology, Basic Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing;1 degree authorized to confer doctors of clinical medicine. 8 first-level disciplines authorized to confer master degrees, 5 disciplines authorized to confer Master’s degrees. It has 6 postdoctoral programs of first-level disciplines, 4 national key disciplines (Physiology, Forensic Medicine, Urology and Dermatology, Sexual Diseases), 24 national clinical key specialty disciplines, 2 "National-level Diagnosis and Treatment Capacity Improvement Project (Respiratory Disease Direction and Chest Pain Center) “, and 12 municipal level key disciplines and 12 municipal level preponderant disciplines. In addition, there are more than 53 model courses of national level, provincial level and university level, 3 national-level and provincial-level bilingual demonstration courses, 5 national-level and provincial-level outstanding teaching groups. 5 disciplines, namely Clinical Medicine, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Biology and Biochemistry, Neuroscience and Behavior, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Education Humanities and Social Sciences, are ranked top 1% on the list of ESI globally.

Faculty and Staff

There is a strong team of faculty at HSC, with more than 8700 faculties and staffs and over 1300 teachers with professor or associate professor titles. It has one member in the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 7 scholars on National Thousand Talents Program, 3 scholars on "Chang Jiang Scholars" Program, 2 innovation teams approved by the Ministry of Education, 5 recipients of National Outstanding (Excellent) Youth Fund, 4 scholars on the "Ten Thousand Talents Project", 4 Nationally Distinguished Teachers, 10 deputy directors and members on the National Instruction Guiding Committees, 20 national-level and provincial-level Experts with Outstanding Contributions, 9 provincial-level famous teachers, 13 scholars on "Shaanxi Hundred Talents Plan", and 115 experts receiving the State Council Special Allowance. HSC has been trying to gather lying on the above high-level talent team and research team while cultivating and introducing a team of teachers who have a global view and academic competitive capacity, and top-notch young talents with potentials for academic development, and forging a team of well-famed teachers, capable doctors with noble medical ethics and profound medical technology, as well as a team of management personnel with selfless dedication to medical education, so as to make HSC become a significant talents cultivation base in supporting Health China Strategy and accomplishing the goal of building a world-class university.

Education and Teaching

HSC offers 8 academic programs, namely Clinical Medicine (5-year study, “5+3 year integration,” Zonglian Pilot Class, and international students), Stomatology (5-year study, and international students), Preventive Medicine (5-year study), Forensic Medicine (5-year study), Basic Medicine (5-year study), Nursing, Pharmacy; Pharmaceutical Engineering. HSC currently has a 5551students, containing 2,764 undergraduates, 632 international students, 564 doctoral students and 1591 Master’s students. Zonglian Pilot Class was established in 2007, bearing the name of Hou Zonglian, medical educator and one of the founders in physiology of China. This innovative program is implemented as an eight-year study program under a new teaching mode in the hope of cultivating high-quality and high-level doctors and physicians “who have read widely in liberal arts and natural science, and have international views, who are equipped with medical theories and clinical skills, who are able to conduct independent clinical research and clinical work, and who graduate with Doctor of Medicine (MD) with a profound potential for academic development.” Taking the opportunities of Physician Education and Training Program of Excellence and National- level Pilot Project for Comprehensive Reform in Clinical Medicine, and guided by Outcome Based Education (OBE) theory, HSC has been striving for building a new clinical education system that aims at duty fulfillment, medical knowledge, abilities and qualities required of students so as to tackle the widely existing problems in medical education. International students, a significant and characteristic portion of our medical program, now mount up to 2,239 since official implementation of the enrollment system in 1995, making the university rank among the first batch of medical schools nationwide that accept international students and offer all-English courses, and one of the main contributors in China in international medical education.

Based on the PBL teaching approach in 1990s, a new round of integration of courses and PBL reform has been implemented since 2008. In the year 2015, led by HSC, China Alliance for Integrated Medical Courses was founded and organized to publish 27 sets of integrated clinical and the relevant medical specialties textbooks produced. It also took the lead in setting Northwest Medical Education Alliance, and Shaanxi Association of Higher Medical Education Medical Education Specialty Committee to push forward the collaboration in medical education and lead medical education development in northwest China.

Scientific Research

HSC attaches great importance to scientific research, having a strong academic atmosphere and advanced equipment and facilities. It has a Ministry of Education Key Laboratories for Environment and Disease Related Genes Studies, 3 national and local joint engineering centers for screening and analyzing natural drugs for vascular diseases, bio-diagnosis and treatment, precision surgery and regenerative medicine, as well as other 7 key ministerial and provincial key laboratories. These centers have long focused on the diagnosis and treatment of the environment-related diseases. HSC has undertaken more than 2000 nationally and provincially funded projects, including more than 30 projects, supported by such foundations as “973 Program”, “863 Program”, Supporting Schemes, People Benefiting Technologies, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), NSFC Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, etc. Progress has been made in the “Research on Intravenous Injection of Large Doses of Vitamin C for the Treatment of Extremely Severe Keshan Disease”, theories of “Selenium in the Prevention of Keshan Disease”, pathological diagnostic criteria for Kashia-Beck Disease, sensation of pain, forensic human genetics, cellular membrane spectrum, kidney implantation, diseases in the liver and the gallbladder, spinal wound repair, and birth defects. In the past 5 years, HSC has won 4 national awards, 21 first prizes of provincial and ministerial awards, 394 patents for invention and practical applications, 1,200 SCI-indexed research articles annually.

Medical Treatment and Clinical Teaching Resources

The two comprehensive clinical hospitals and one stomatological hospital subordinate to HSC all are Grade III, level A hospitals, with national influence in disease treatment, medical education, scientific research, prevention, health care and rehabilitation. With complete disciplines and departments, renowned experts, excellent skills, and advanced equipment, the hospitals provide students with excellent conditions of internship and practice. There are 5,000 beds for patients from outside the university, around five million annual outpatient visits, 180,000 annual inpatients, 100,000 annual surgical operations. Special features have been developed in the application of the advanced technologies in kidney and liver implantation, congenital heart disease treatment, interventional technology, minimally invasive surgery, as well as surgical treatment of skin diseases, cysts, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and metabolic disease. The overall capabilities in dealing with difficult and extremely severe diseases rank among the best in the nation. The hospitals respond to the calls of the nation and Shaanxi province in dispatching medical resources to counties and hamlets, exploring the new-type medical cooperation modes so as to build a new graded diagnosis and treatment system to solve the problem of “difficultand expensive to get medical service.” It also has 18 non-affiliated hospitals which are also Grade III, level-Ahospitals with a regional influence with a total number of 20,000 beds for the general public. The Northwest Medical Alliance founded in 2017 radiates to 44 Grade III hospitals in the northwest of China in the application of new treatment technologies, explores new forms of regional medical combinations, and makes its contribution to the mission of Healthy China, Healthy Shaanxi and help with medical communication and cooperation among the countries along the Belt and Road region.

International Communication and Cooperation

HSC attaches great importance to communication and cooperation. It has established long-term relations with medical colleges and health institutions, like World Health Organization, China Medical Board, UNICEF, Kwang-Hua Education Foundation, National Yang Ming University, Harvard University, Emory University, University of Nebraska, Karolinska Institute, UCLA, University of Liverpool, Pasteur Institute, University of Sydney, etc. The cooperation mainly involves student joint education, teacher training, collaborative research, and academic conferences. In1998, Madeleine K. Albright, former United States Secretary of State, visited the university and initiated the Sino-American tele-medical consultation system. The alumni of XJTU Medical School are all over the world, and the alumni associations also play an important role in HSC development and promotion of its international status.

Looking into the Future

The 12th Party Congress of Xi'an Jiaotong University pointed out that medical development should aim at the forefront of international medicine; vigorously promote the rapid development of medical disciplines around the major needs of the country; foster and strengthen the medical core team; create a group of high-level dominant disciplines; integrate high-quality resources; carry out collaborative innovation research on major disease prevention and control in the west; Establish an interdisciplinary research fund to construct an integration mechanism between medicine and science, engineering, management, and literature, etc.. In addition, it is expected to face the needs of the reform of the national medical and health system, explore the new path of reform and development of large public hospitals, build a new system of physician training, promote the new development of medical technology, improve the quality of medical services, and benefit the health of people. The aim is to build HSC into a medical center in the northwest region of China, i.e., the core base of medical education, the key platform for medical research, the pool of high-quality talents, the national center for major disease prevention and medical rescue, and the national think tank for medical and health system reform, and the health promotion center for the Belt and Road region so as to develop a new medical education system with XJTU's characteristics and demonstration effect, and to realize the comprehensive and rapid development of medical education of the university.

Currently, HSC takes the advantages of natural Sciences and humanities of the comprehensive university and construction of "Western China Science & Technology Innovation Harbour Wisdom Uni-Town" as an opportunity to disseminate the Westward Relocation spirit, and pass on XJTU motto of "studying assiduously, resolving to succeed, acting decisively, and managing affairs with magnanimity" and the medical culture of "upholding virtues and medicine, seeking after truth and creativity." It consistently pursues lofty ideals of "for the light of life", and strives to cultivate high-quality medical talents, conduct high-level medical research, provide high-quality medical services, and build tap-ranking medical disciplines.