Department of Nephrology, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine — A Key Specialty of the Ministry of Health, a Key Discipline of the Ministry of Education, a Shanghai Key Discipline, a Key Discipline of the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, and a Leading Discipline of Shanghai Medical Specialties. It is a renal specialty training base with considerable influence both domestically and internationally and a national-level clinical pharmacology base. It is among the first batch of institutions in China authorized to confer doctoral and master's degrees in nephrology and to host a postdoctoral research station. The discipline was founded in 1965 and became an independent department in 1976. It currently comprises four divisions: Clinical, Pathology, Laboratory, and Dialysis. It is one of the earliest-established and most comprehensively equipped renal specialties in China. Since its establishment, the department has treated a large number of patients with kidney disease and was the first in China to report the first case of renal tubular acidosis (1958), cases of macroglobulinemia (1992) and light chain deposition disease (1994) confirmed by renal biopsy, hereditary hyperoxaluria, and the first confirmed Liddle syndrome and a pedigree with collagen III nephropathy. It has collected large series of cases of renal tubular acidosis, primary nephrotic syndrome, renal involvement in Sjögren's syndrome, lupus nephritis, necrotizing vasculitis, dysglobulinemia, hereditary nephritis, and other conditions, gradually forming medical specialties represented by the diagnosis and treatment of secondary renal damage, acute and chronic renal insufficiency, hereditary kidney disease, tubulointerstitial disease, nephrotic syndrome, and other diseases. In addition to clinical care, the discipline is highly competitive in teaching and research. It has undertaken dozens of international new drug clinical trials, led or participated in the formulation of guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases, and hosted major national and international nephrology conferences on multiple occasions, enjoying a high reputation nationwide. The main hospital campus has 90 fixed beds, with approximately 190,000 outpatient and emergency visits per year, an average length of stay of 7–9 days, and more than 2,000 discharges per year. The discipline has a world-class blood purification center, with 80 various blood purification machines, 15 automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) machines, more than 320 maintenance hemodialysis patients, routine hemodialysis exceeding 47,000 sessions per year, CRRT approximately 1,800 sessions per year, and 330 long-term follow-up peritoneal dialysis patients. Its various clinical indicators rank first in China. In the latest ranking by the School of Management of Fudan University, the discipline has consistently ranked among the top in the country and first in Shanghai. The discipline currently has more than 30 physicians, including 1 lifetime professor, 6 chief physicians, 11 associate chief physicians, 4 doctoral supervisors, and 10 master's supervisors. Ninety-six percent hold doctoral or master's degrees, and 70% have worked and studied for many years in countries such as the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Japan, constituting a high-quality, high-level disciplinary team. Each year, the discipline undertakes multiple national and ministerial-level research projects, with current research funding exceeding 20 million yuan. It has received various national-level scientific research awards and has published more than 500 articles, including more than 80 indexed in SCI. The discipline actively participates in domestic and international academic exchanges and has vigorous international collaborations. It has established long-term, stable, and in-depth cooperative relationships with internationally first-class universities and hospitals such as Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Mount Sinai Medical School, Tenon Hospital of Paris VI University, Necker Hospital of Paris V University, Hope Hospital in Manchester, UK, and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). It has formed a sister renal center relationship with the Department of Nephrology of the world-renowned Tenon Hospital of Paris VI University (ISN Sister Renal Center Program) and, standing out among numerous candidate disciplines worldwide, became the first in China to be exceptionally promoted to the highest-level renal center (Grade A), thereby expanding and enhancing the discipline's core influence and academic standing at home and abroad. The mission of the discipline is to improve medical service standards through translational research from bench to bedside and to serve patients wholeheartedly.