Introduction

The Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, also recognized as Shanghai Clinical Center for Diabetes and Shanghai Key Clinical Center for Metabolic Diseases, collaborates closely with Shanghai Diabetes Institute and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Diabetes Mellitus. This comprehensive institution integrates clinical practice, scientific research, and education and holds key designations as National Key Discipline of the National Health Commission, Key Specialty of the State Education Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Shanghai Key Leading Medical Discipline. It serves as the master's and doctoral site for endocrinology of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Pioneering research on diabetes in China, it stands as a prominent domestic and internationally renowned center for diabetes research, diagnosis, and treatment.

Under the leadership of Academician Kunsan Xiang and Weiping Jia, the department has achieved international acclaim in diabetes etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. With a team of 85 personnel, including 2 academicians, 17 doctoral supervisors, and 6 master's supervisors, the department has been recognized for its contributions, ranking second in endocrinology and metabolic diseases in the five-year Accumulative Science and Technology Evaluation Metrics of Chinese medical schools/hospitals (ASTEM) in 2022.

Specialties

With a focus on diabetes, obesity, and other major metabolic diseases, the department conducts systematic and multi-level research into various aspects of diabetes, including molecular etiology, genetic mechanisms, epidemiology, glucose monitoring, disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Additionally, the team excels in managing a wide range of diseases, such as diabetes and its complications, obesity, metabolic syndrome, hyperuricemia, thyroid disease, hypoglycemia, osteoporosis, and other endocrine disorders.

Over the years, the department has concentrated on cutting-edge research in diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, progressively developing several sub-disciplines and cross-disciplinary approaches aimed at addressing common diseases and co-morbidities of the endocrine system. These include diabetes diagnosis, genetic counseling, individualized education, nutritional counseling, exercise programs, prevention and treatment of high-risk groups, diabetic foot disease, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, gestational diabetes, neurovascular disease, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Moreover, the team has established a novel "multidisciplinary joint diagnosis and treatment of diabetes" platform, along with a "centralized" diagnosis and treatment model, enhancing the comprehensive care and management of diabetes patients.

By concentrating on the etiology and pathogenesis of diabetes among the Chinese population, Shanghai Clinical Center for Diabetes and Shanghai Diabetes Institute have made significant strides in identifying biological markers and risk factors specific to diabetes in this demographic. They have also developed technologies for predicting, preventing, diagnosing, monitoring, and intervening in diabetes. Key research areas include:

1. Molecular etiology of diabetes, with a particular focus on the genetic study of polygenic diabetes and the etiology of hereditary diabetes.
2. Pathophysiological mechanisms of diabetes and its complications, especially related to pancreatic β-cell function, insulin resistance mechanisms, diabetic metabolomics and proteomics, and complications research.
3. Translational medicine research, which emphasizes the development of new technologies for predicting, monitoring, diagnosing, and intervening in diabetes, as well as conducting epidemiological cohort studies.

Over the past three years, our department has conducted in-depth studies on the genetic susceptibility characteristics of Chinese individuals with type 2 diabetes, developed diagnostic technologies for molecular etiology, strengthened interdisciplinary collaborations, and established various research platforms encompassing genetics, cell biology, genomics, and metabolomics.