China's Top Departments: Reproductive Medicine at the International Peace Maternity & Child Health Hospital (Shanghai)

If you and your partner are struggling with infertility, recurrent miscarriage or advanced maternal age — or if yours is a family with a known hereditary condition and you want to prevent passing it on to your children through preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) — the Center for Reproductive Medicine at the International Peace Maternity & Child Health Hospital (IPMCH) in Shanghai is one of China's most distinctive destinations, pairing one of Shanghai's earliest licensed ART programs with the city's only first-batch national PGD pilot designation.

About the Hospital

The International Peace Maternity & Child Health Hospital (IPMCH) was founded in 1952 by Soong Ching-ling (Madame Sun Yat-sen), then Honorary President of the People's Republic of China. It is a Grade 3A (tertiary, top-tier) maternity and child health specialty hospital integrating clinical care, health services, teaching and research, and is affiliated with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

• Level / ownership: Grade 3A maternity and child health specialty hospital (public)
• Scale: About 480–500 authorized/open beds; more than 1.2 million outpatient visits per year, over 40,000 inpatient admissions, roughly 30,000 surgeries and more than 16,000 deliveries annually
• Campus locations:
  • Xuhui Campus: 910 Hengshan Road / 1961 Huashan Road, Shanghai
  • Fengxian Campus: 168 Wanghe Road / 1567 Jinqian Highway, Shanghai
• Telephone: +86-21-64070434

Department Profile and History

The Center for Reproductive Medicine is a key department of the hospital, comprising the Division of Assisted Reproduction and the Division of Reproductive Genetics. It covers infertility diagnosis and treatment, human assisted reproductive technologies (ART), and preimplantation genetic testing.

• May 2000: The Assisted Reproduction Center was established
• November 2002: Following review by an expert panel of the former Ministry of Health, the center was approved to perform in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) — one of the first batch of assisted reproduction centers approved by the Ministry of Health in Shanghai
• March 2004: Approved to perform intrauterine insemination with the husband's sperm (AIH)
• Milestones: First IVF baby born February 2001; first ICSI baby born April 2001; first frozen embryo transfer (FET) baby born December 2001
• 2014: The Division of Reproductive Genetics was founded, introducing a specialist team to translate the latest genetic diagnostic technologies into clinical practice
• Patients served: Complex infertility conditions such as advanced maternal age with menopause, premature ovarian failure, primary amenorrhea, unexplained infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis

Core Technological Strengths

Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT)

The center was among the first national PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) clinical application pilot units of the National Health and Family Planning Commission — the only one in Shanghai — and was also among the first NIPT clinical application pilot units (one of four in Shanghai). This is what international patients often call the "third-generation IVF": embryos created by IVF are biopsied and genetically screened before transfer, so that only embryos free of the family's disease-causing mutation are implanted.

Notable "Firsts"

• 2015: Birth of the first healthy baby in Shanghai following whole-genome preimplantation genetic screening (PGS)
• 2016: Birth of the first baby in China through single-cell high-throughput sequencing combined with karyotype mapping in a "cancer-free" PGD case of a hereditary thyroid cancer family

Research Platform Support

• Shanghai Key Laboratory of Embryo-Related Diseases
• Obstetrics and Gynecology Institute and Embryo-Related Diseases Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
• "SJTU–CUHK Joint Research Center for Human Reproduction and Related Diseases"
• Joint research center with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada (2014)
• Designated in 2016 as the clinical base for embryo-related diseases of the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine

Clinical Volume

According to the department's profile materials, the center performs more than 3,200 ART cycles per year with a clinical pregnancy rate above 40% (earlier-reported department-profile figures, provided for reference).

Expert Team

• Huang Hefeng (黄荷凤): Chief physician, professor and doctoral supervisor; Director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Hospital President (per the cited source page). Director of the Embryo-Related Diseases Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine; Chair of the Reproductive Medicine Committee of the Chinese Association of Integrative Medicine; Chair of the Fertility Care Committee of the China Maternal and Child Health Association; Vice Chair of the Reproductive Medicine Society of the Chinese Medical Association. Specializes in infertility, reproductive endocrinology and reproductive genetics.
• Zou Shuhua: Chief physician, specialist in assisted reproduction. Focuses on ART, female infertility, metabolic and polycystic ovary conditions, and recurrent miscarriage.
• Ping Ping (平萍): Associate chief physician, master's supervisor, head of the andrology unit of the center. Member of the Youth Committee of the Shanghai Medical Association Andrology Branch; member of the reproductive expert committee of the Andrology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association. Specializes in comprehensive and microsurgical treatment of male infertility.
• Chen Qinfang: Chief physician, Director of the Family Planning Department. Focuses on infertility caused by intrauterine lesions, intrauterine adhesions and tubal obstruction, as well as termination of high-risk pregnancies.
• Fang Aihua: Chief physician, specialist in family planning. Focuses on gynecological endocrinology, infertility and complex family planning cases.

Research and Teaching

• The hospital hosts master's and doctoral programs in obstetrics and gynecology as well as a postdoctoral station
• It is home to high-level talent including a chief scientist of the National Key Research Program and recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars
• It continues to conduct translational research in genetic diagnostics and birth-defect prevention, building multiple lines of defense from preconception to prenatal care

Why PGT Matters: From Remediation to Prevention

The overall incidence of birth defects in China is about 5%, and single-gene disorders are characterized by high concealment, high disability and high mortality. As a core technology for the primary prevention of birth defects, PGT analyzes the genetic material of embryos before implantation and selects those free of disease-causing genes — a key shift from "remediation after pregnancy" to "prevention before pregnancy." With one of Shanghai's earliest ART licenses and the city's only first-batch PGD pilot designation, the IPMCH Center for Reproductive Medicine holds an important position in this field — and a practical one for international families carrying known genetic risks.

Address and Contact

• Xuhui Campus: 910 Hengshan Road / 1961 Huashan Road, Shanghai
• Fengxian Campus: 168 Wanghe Road / 1567 Jinqian Highway, Shanghai
• Telephone: +86-21-64070434

If this department interests you, you may also want to read about gynecology at the Red House and reproductive medicine at Tangdu Hospital.

Sources: IPMCH official website, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine affiliated-hospital introduction, China Medical Information Query Platform and other public materials. Some capacity figures reflect the original reporting and should be verified against the hospital's latest official data. This content is for reference only and does not constitute medical advice.