Department of Physiology, which came into being as German Medical School for Chinese in Shanghai (today's Tongji Medical College) was founded in 1907, represents one of the eight departments with the longest history in Tongji Medical College. Thanks to efforts made by older generations, Department of Physiology was approved to run a doctoral program and postdoctoral mobile station in 2000. It runs Pulmonary Disease Labratory of Ministry of Health and Chinesisch-Deutsches Stammzellzentrum. Professor Yangling MOU, a recipient of the National Youth Top-notch Talent Support Program in China launched by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, was introduced as the department chair in 2014. Professor Ximiao HE took the position of department chair from June 2017 up to now.
Department of Physiology rolled research, teaching and social services into one. It has two visiting professors and 20 full-time faculty members, among whom 6 are professors, four associate professors, six lecturers and four technicians with intermediate titles. Seven teachers are eligible to supervise postgraduate students and six are doctoral supervisors. Two teachers are supported by National Youth Top-notch Talent Support Program in China launched by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC and one teacher is listed on "100 Talents Plan" of Hubei province. Department of Physiology is a governing unit of Chinese Association for Physiological Sciences, and the chairman unit of the Hubei Physiological Society.
Department of Physiology is responsible for giving lessons on physiology to students at School of Basic Medicine. It runs courses such as Physiology for undergraduate students, New Advances in Physiology and Stem Cell Technology and Its Applications for postgraduate students. Over 100 postgraduate students opt New Advances in Physiology each year and the number soared up to 170 in 2017. Stem Cell Technology and Its Applications is taught in English and especially designed for doctoral students and international students of Tongji Medical College.
Department of Physiology is a teaching and research unit of School of Basic Medicine. Meanwhile, it is a key laboratory for Drug Target Design and Drug Efficacy Evaluation in Hubei province and a participant of Brain Research Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Department of Physiology focuses on basic research and conducts research on the key problems of natural science and clinical medicine. In recent years, it has undertaken eight projects from National Natural Science Foundation of China, five projects from the Ministry of Education, two projects from Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation, and more than 15 projects from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, with a total funding of about five million RMB. The past five years have witnessed 27 SCI papers published, with a cumulative impact factor of 88, and two Patents for Utility Model approved.
Department of Physiology has carried out long-term cooperation with Jürgen Hescheler, a professor at the University of Cologne, Germany, in the research of stem cells. Over ten well-known experts from home and abroad, including Academician Muming PU, Prof. Hescheler, Prof. Qiang WANG and Dr. Bohele, were invited to give academic lectures for the past few years.
Department of Physiology is qualified to enroll doctoral and postgraduate students. Meanwhile, it is a postdoctoral mobile station of basic medicine and biology. Relying on its scientific research strength, the department serves as an important base for 8-year and 5-year schooling innovative undergraduates training program in School of Basic Medicine. It accepts about 20 outstanding undergraduate students for scientific research and enrolls 8-10 postgraduate students and 5-6 doctoral students each year. It also recruits excellent doctors for postdoctoral work all year round.
A large number of nation-known physiologists once worked in the department, including Zhiping CHEN, Xinwei FENG, Xinwei WU, Xiuzhu ZHAO, Kun YANG, Yichan ZHAO, Shaoru LI, Chengjun HUANG, Zhiwang LI, Pengfei SUN, Sancai ZHANG, Zongping TU, Zidong ZHANG, Zhenying WU, Jingtian ZENG, Zongyuan LI, Jingning XIAO, Chenggao YU, Gongshou ZHANG, Hongmei XIAO, Lieju LIU, Changjin LIU, Ming TANG, etc. At the same time, Department of Physiology has trained a pool of outstanding basic medical researchers making presence all over the world. It has trained 20 PhD students and 33 MS students since 2008. Among them, Prof. Ruiping XIAO, who graduated from Department of Physiology, Tongji Medical College in 1987, is an outstanding representative of its alumni. Prof. Ruiping XIAO, a famous cardiovascular researcher in China, is head of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Peking University, and associate editor of NEJM.
