China's Top Departments: Gastroenterology at Changhai Hospital (Naval Medical University)

If you or a loved one is dealing with pancreatic or biliary disease, chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic duct stones, needs high-quality gastrointestinal early-cancer screening, or simply requires an endoscopic procedure at a center with elite volumes and quality control, the Department of Gastroenterology at Changhai Hospital is one of China's most established destinations — a flagship department led by an academician, inside a tertiary hospital renowned for burns and cardiothoracic care.

Overview

The Department of Gastroenterology at Changhai Hospital (the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University) is one of the six National Key Disciplines led by Changhai Hospital. It is a National Clinical Key Specialty and home to the PLA Institute of Digestive Diseases and the PLA Digestive Endoscopy Center. Its defining strengths are pancreatic disease, biliary disease, and minimally invasive digestive endoscopy. As a fully integrated clinical, teaching, and research department, it has contributed substantially to the spread and rapid development of digestive endoscopy in China.

The department hosts a National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases (designated in 2014; only three exist in China) and is the affiliated institution of the National Quality Control Center for Digestive Endoscopy, placing it at the core of China's endoscopy quality-control and training system.

Hospital Background

The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University (Shanghai Changhai Hospital) was founded in July 1949. It is a Class-A tertiary general hospital that was among the first to enter the Class-A tertiary category in 1993, and was named one of China's "Top 100 Hospitals" in 1999. It operates a main campus on Changhai Road in Yangpu District and a Hongkou campus, with 62 clinical departments and more than 2,700 beds.

The hospital is strongly resourced academically: it leads six National Key Disciplines (including Gastroenterology) and participates in nine more, and hosts one National Clinical Research Center, 14 National Clinical Key Specialties, and 16 military specialty centers/institutes, with three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Its traditional strengths are burns and cardiothoracic disease; it has developed further distinctive programs in digestive and pancreatic disease, and in minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of prostate disease and complex urinary stones.

Academic Leader — Prof. Li Zhaoshen (李兆申)

• Expert in gastroenterology and digestive endoscopy; Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; chief physician, professor, and doctoral supervisor
• Director of the Department of Gastroenterology at Changhai Hospital; Director of the National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases; Director of the PLA Institute of Digestive Diseases; Director of the Shanghai Institute of Pancreatic Diseases
• Key innovations: developed two generations of capsule endoscopy and proposed a new concept of endoscopic health screening; established quality-control standards and training systems; established a minimally invasive "medication—lithotripsy—intervention—surgery" treatment model for chronic pancreatitis and created multiple new pancreatic-disease diagnostic and therapeutic techniques
• Honors: four National Science and Technology Progress Awards, Second Class, as first contributor; the Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Progress Award; the inaugural Chinese Physician Award; and Military Science and Technology Leading Talent
• Research output: 260 SCI papers as first or corresponding author, cited nearly 4,000 times; research findings incorporated into 55 international guidelines; led the formulation of 24 Chinese professional guidelines or consensus statements; 18 invention patents; editor-in-chief of 47 monographs

The department's leadership bench is deep: Prof. Liao Zhuan (廖专), current President of Changhai Hospital, rose through this department and previously served as Deputy Director of the National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases (Shanghai) and Deputy Director of the Department of Gastroenterology. Prof. Du Yiqi (杜奕奇) serves as Deputy Director of the department, Prof. Wang Luowei (王洛伟) as Deputy Director and Director of the Office of the National Quality Control Center for Digestive Endoscopy, and Prof. Wang Kaixuan (王凯旋) as a chief physician specializing in endoscopic ultrasound and ERCP for pancreaticobiliary disease.

Core Strengths

Scale of Endoscopic Practice

• Performs more than 80,000 digestive endoscopy procedures each year, among the highest volumes of any general hospital in China
• ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) and EUS (endoscopic ultrasound) each exceed 3,000 cases per year, ranking first in China
• Performs more than 300 capsule endoscopy and enteroscopy procedures per year, a leading level nationally

Pancreatic Disease and Minimally Invasive Treatment of Pancreatic Duct Stones

• The only institution in China to perform extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy for pancreatic duct stones (P-ESWL), with a cumulative total of more than 5,000 cases, at an internationally leading level
• Extensive experience in the minimally invasive management of chronic pancreatitis under a "medication—lithotripsy—intervention—surgery" model; affiliated collaborative centers have been established in multiple regions

Pancreaticobiliary Disease and Advanced Endoscopy

• Rich experience in minimally invasive resection of early colorectal cancer and ERCP treatment of pancreaticobiliary duct disease, especially complex techniques such as endoscopic papillary sphincterotomy
• Among the first in China to perform natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) and other advanced techniques
• Research focuses on early gastrointestinal cancer and pancreatic disease

Facilities and Service

• The endoscopy center covers more than 3,000 m², with a dedicated anesthesia and recovery room and more than 30 endoscopy consoles (domestic and imported)
• A day-surgery ward allows some polyp resections and post-ESD observation to be completed with discharge within 24 hours

Rankings & Honors

• National Key Discipline (Gastroenterology) and National Clinical Key Specialty
• National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases (one of only three in China)
• Affiliated institution of the National Quality Control Center for Digestive Endoscopy
• Urology and Gastroenterology were selected as a "National Ministry of Education Innovation Team"
• In 2026 third-party hospital rankings, the department was listed among China's leading gastroenterology departments and among recommended Shanghai centers for digestive care

Clinic & Address

• Main campus: 168 Changhai Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200433, China
• Hongkou campus: 15 Dongjiangwan Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai
• Public contact number: 021-31161236

If this department interests you, you may also want to read about Changhai Hospital Urology — another National Key Discipline at the same hospital, led by CAE Academician Sun Yinghao — and Burn & Trauma Surgery at Changhai Hospital, the hospital's oldest traditional strength.