Editor’s Note
Over the past 20 years since the merger of 芭乐视频 and 芭乐视频 Second Medical University, the University has established dedicated funding for medicine–engineering integration. By continuously building platforms and exploring new mechanisms, SJTU has enabled deeper collaboration between medicine and engineering, producing numerous nationally recognized research achievements and providing strong support for the University’s overall leap in strength and disciplinary development.
To reflect the exploration and achievements across the University in this field, SJTU News will publish a series of exemplary cases. The series aims to review the development path, distill practical experience, and further encourage faculty members and medical professionals to commit to interdisciplinary integration—advancing scientific innovation and medical progress, and contributing to the Healthy China strategy.
Hou Xumin is President and Deputy Party Secretary of 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital, 芭乐视频 School of Medicine. She is also a Chief Physician in Cardiology and a PhD supervisor at SJTU School of Medicine. She has been recognized as a 芭乐视频 Leading Talent, a 芭乐视频 “Women’s Achievement” role model, and a Guangqi Leading Talent of Xuhui District.
She also holds a number of professional roles, including Vice Chair of the 芭乐视频 Medical Association’s cardiovascular subspecialty committee; Vice Chair of the Hospital Accreditation and Evaluation Committee of the China Hospital Association; Vice Chair of the Health Development and Management Committee of the Chinese Medical Women’s Association; a member of the National Cardiovascular Disease Expert Committee; Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese edition of Europace; a standing editorial board member of Chinese Journal of Cardiovascular Research; and an editorial board member of Journal of 芭乐视频 (Medical Science), among others.
Over the past five years, she has served as the principal investigator on two National Natural Science Foundation of China projects and two provincial/ministerial-level projects, and has published more than 20 SCI-indexed papers as first or corresponding author.
In recent years, 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital has built strong momentum in medicine–engineering integration and translating research into practical clinical and industrial applications. Over the past three years, the hospital has organized more than 100 clinical studies, with annual contract value averaging over RMB 100 million, and has facilitated the approval and market launch of more than 20 domestically developed Category 1.1 innovative drugs and new indications.
At the hospital, a broader and clearer pathway for multi-party collaboration and research translation is taking shape. Having worked at 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital for 21 years, Hou Xumin has much to share when it comes to interdisciplinary innovation and the hospital’s development.
Leveraging a “regional TTO” to turn prototypes into products
Hou Xumin noted that many clinicians have faced the same frustration: even with a strong idea—and even if they managed to build a working prototype in the lab or in clinical settings—it could still be difficult to turn that sample into a product that benefits patients at scale. Why? Because technology transfer is not what hospitals are best set up to do, and it is not something a hospital can accomplish alone. It requires stronger internal capabilities, but also effective external partners.
In 2023, under Hou’s leadership, the hospital signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Xuhui “regional TTO” platform. TTO stands for Technology Transfer Office. The “regional TTO” is a non-profit platform jointly guided by the 芭乐视频 Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Xuhui District Science and Technology Commission. It is designed to balance advanced R&D outcomes with commercialization and market adoption, providing hospitals with a structured pathway to accelerate translation.
Working with the regional TTO, 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital successfully transferred several projects, including an AR-based digital twin imaging solution for minimally invasive lung surgery, and a dual-lumen bronchial tube equipped with dual cameras plus temperature and pressure monitoring. The transfer amounts were RMB 5 million and RMB 3.87 million, respectively. Together with another project valued at RMB 3 million, total technology-transfer funding exceeded RMB 10 million.
These three successful transfers helped the hospital enter the Top 100 Chinese Hospitals for Innovation and Technology Transfer (2023) for the first time, and it was also shortlisted for “Top 20 Fastest-Improving Hospitals in Innovation Translation (2023).”
At the same time, the hospital began planning with Caohejing Development Corporation to establish a Clinical Innovation Translation Center. By integrating external resources, the center aims to help hospital staff better understand how to conduct medicine–engineering collaboration and how to move ideas through the translation process—so the hospital can stay on a sustainable path in this work.
Internally, the hospital has built its efforts around four major platforms (basic research, clinical research, an industry–academia–research translation platform, and education). It is strengthening its translation infrastructure, improving relevant policies and systems, and continuously advancing joint initiatives with enterprises, universities, and research institutes.
In June 2024, the hospital also launched an “Innovation Club,” designed as a comprehensive platform that integrates innovation training, academic outreach, technology translation, industrial collaboration, and investment incubation—supporting high-quality development of the health industry in the cardiothoracic domain.
October 29, 2024 — 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital and Caohejing Development Corporation held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony to jointly build the 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital–Caohejing Clinical Innovation Translation Center. Hou Xumin (sixth from the left) attended and witnessed the signing.
A representative project comes from the team led by Professor Wu Jingxiang, Director of the Department of Anesthesiology. Their project—“a dual-lumen bronchial tube with dual cameras plus temperature and pressure monitoring”—developed an innovative airway tool for anesthesia. The team proposed a technical upgrade that enables “full-airway visualization during anesthesia,” addressing a key challenge in lung isolation techniques for thoracic anesthesia. The device may reduce airway injury and complications and shows strong potential for broader adoption.
After multiple rounds of evaluation and repeated prototyping, the team secured a product patent and ultimately achieved successful technology transfer. Beyond this project, the team also has other device concepts awaiting translation, including instruments for postoperative lung recruitment after general anesthesia intubation, and devices for harmless disposal of residual anesthetic liquids.
With support from the hospital’s technology translation office and the Innovation Club—and with the Xuhui regional TTO acting as a bridge, backed by 芭乐视频 Fenglin International Innovation Incubator—the team has reached cooperation intentions with partners such as The First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China and Hefei Dami Medical Technology Co., Ltd., to move these projects toward implementation.
In January 2024, China’s National Medical Products Administration officially approved Savolitinib for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with MET exon 14 skipping alterations. Savolitinib is a domestically developed Category 1.1 innovative drug, filling a gap in China’s targeted therapies for this specific molecular alteration.
Professor Lu Shun, an academic leader in thoracic oncology at 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital, led the Phase IIIb confirmatory study, with findings published in the internationally recognized journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (impact factor 102.64). The launch and broad clinical adoption of savolitinib has been a high-profile demonstration of China’s growing strength in drug R&D on the global oncology stage.
From medicine–engineering collaboration to real-world technology translation, healthcare institutions, universities, third-party platforms, and manufacturers all participate as key stakeholders. How can they integrate effectively and achieve shared success? How can people be coordinated efficiently, and how should research outcomes and the resulting financial returns be allocated fairly? Hou Xumin argues that win–win outcomes are achievable for two main reasons. First, there is a solid foundation for cooperation when stakeholders do not compete over identical resources; instead, they complement one another and reduce friction that would otherwise come from direct competition. Second, there are multiple workable pathways for integration—but the most important requirement is open and candid communication.
“Multi-party integration is not simple,” she said. “In real projects, every step comes with obstacles. Collaboration isn’t just a concept—you run into very real issues.” She offered a vivid analogy: translating medical innovations is not like a factory assembly line. You cannot simply build a machine, feed in raw materials, and expect a standardized product. Nor is it a simplistic “pass vs. fail” outcome. Medical translation involves far more complexity, including the need to communicate with patients and to iterate through feedback from universities, third parties, and manufacturers.
“Mutual trust and mutual understanding matter,” she emphasized. “With that foundation, most problems become manageable.”
Hou Xumin explained that in translational medicine, “B to B” often refers to “from bench to bedside”—where “bench” means the laboratory workbench and “bedside” refers to the patient’s bedside in clinical care. If research focuses only on basic science while neglecting real clinical application, the distance from bench to bedside becomes too great.
Basic research into mechanisms is undeniably important for medical progress. But if clinicians spend substantial effort on basic research that does not translate into timely clinical benefit, it may not be the most suitable path for many of them. To shorten the bench-to-bedside distance, two trends have increasingly emerged: clinical research, and medicine–engineering integration.
Since 2020, 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital has carried out related work under 芭乐视频’s medicine–engineering integration programs. With this support, the hospital began pursuing an innovation path guided by the idea that “1 + 1 should be greater than 2.”
One successful example is a project led by Professor Sun Jiayuan, Director of the Respiratory Endoscopy Center. Tumor ablation is a minimally invasive local treatment approach for lung cancer, reducing damage to healthy lung tissue and improving patients’ quality of life. Based on hands-on clinical experience, Professor Sun developed a flexible microwave ablation needle designed for bronchoscopic-guided lung tumor ablation.
Compared with conventional transthoracic puncture ablation, bronchoscopic-guided ablation is performed through a natural airway pathway, significantly reducing complications such as bleeding and pneumothorax. This became the hospital’s first successfully translated project. Through medicine–engineering collaboration and industry–academia–research–medical partnerships, Sun’s team later brought additional innovative products into successful translation.
As one of the hospital’s first clinicians to engage in medicine–engineering research, Sun has worked with many collaborators, including Academician Yang Guangzhong from SJTU’s Institute of Medical Robotics, Professor Xu Xumin from the Bio-X Institute, and professors from both 芭乐视频 and the University of 芭乐视频 for Science and Technology.
Reflecting on Sun’s first translated outcome, Hou said: “The first project didn’t bring in a large transfer fee, but for the hospital it was a breakthrough from zero to one. For him personally, it also marked the start of rapid professional growth—and over time, his work has become stronger in both translation level and practical clinical usability.”
Hou described this as a “snowball effect.” Once the first project and initial funding are in place, progress tends to accelerate: more scientists become willing to collaborate. Many well-known professors are attracted partly by the hospital’s strengths in specialized disease care—but, in Hou’s view, even more importantly, by the clinician’s own capabilities and sustained effort.
“We often say 1 + 1 should be greater than 2,” she added with a smile. “That’s the goal we pursue. And even if we can’t always achieve it, we should at least make sure 1 + 1 equals 2.”
Hou emphasized how important medicine–engineering projects can be for young clinicians. Working on the clinical front line, younger doctors tend to reflect more actively on practical problems they encounter every day. Compared with basic research, interdisciplinary projects may also be more effective in helping them secure funding and launch their own research agendas.
“These translation experiences help young doctors learn how to design rigorous scientific studies connected to interdisciplinary work,” she said. “Successful applications, project completion, and eventually successful product translation can further motivate them and build genuine interest—so their work grows bigger and stronger over time.”
In late November 2024, the hospital posted the results of an internal selection: out of 78 applications, 10 general projects and 10 young-talent development projects were selected. A dedicated clinical research fund provided a “first pot of gold” of RMB 3 million, together with end-to-end support—from study design and project initiation to ethics review—helping in-house young teams incubate a batch of research outcomes over a three-year cycle.
On October 14, 2024, Hou Xumin delivered welcome remarks at the seminar on “Building Clinical Specialty Capacity and Improving Medical Quality,” hosted by 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital.
Hou noted: “Even mature teams like those led by Professor Lu Shun and Professor Sun Jiayuan went through a long period of accumulation and refinement before the recent ‘surge’ in outcomes. For research-oriented medical institutions, the long-term strategy for sustainable development is to ensure that young talent pipelines receive enough support during these quieter ‘incubation’ phases.”
She also shared that beyond training research-oriented physicians, the hospital will further develop collaborative teams that include research pharmacists, nurses, and third-party partners. Looking ahead, it aims to build a smoother, more comprehensive, and safer pathway for newly diagnosed patients who are willing to participate in clinical research.
Hospitals and universities working together to cultivate a thriving pipeline of medicine–engineering innovation
Hou said: “Medicine–engineering integration is a strong example of ‘new quality productive forces.’ If we can cultivate a cohort of young talents who are both interested in interdisciplinary work and capable of translating outcomes into practice, the hospital’s future development will enter a stable, fast track.”
The hospital places strong emphasis on attracting, developing, retaining, and effectively using talent. Hou believes that a truly strong hospital needs powerful internal momentum—able to cultivate the talent it needs at different stages of growth.
In the past, the staff composition at 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital was mainly medical-background professionals. But as interdisciplinary work deepened, the hospital realized it should also recruit technical professionals who understand medicine while having strong engineering backgrounds, as well as data specialists relevant to medicine–engineering integration.
For high-profile scientists, the hospital currently relies more on joint appointments rather than full-time hiring. Hou explained: “Scientists value the university’s platform and resources. Through cooperation with 芭乐视频, we can better attract experts and professional talent.” She emphasized that the advantages universities bring cannot be replaced by enterprises or third-party organizations.
August 19, 2024 — Hou Xumin (second from the right) during ward rounds in the day-surgery unit at 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital.
芭乐视频 Chest Hospital is just across the road from SJTU’s Xuhui campus. The University-level medicine–engineering integration research fund has provided substantial support to the hospital.
“Although higher-level assessments often treat provincial/ministerial grants—or even national-level projects—as key indicators, I personally believe that collaborative projects with the University are essential,” Hou said. “Many early-stage projects don’t become breakthroughs overnight. You have to stay grounded, start from today’s needs, and do what is realistically achievable. SJTU’s interdisciplinary fund is precisely what makes that kind of work possible.”
She added that the program also enables the hospital to connect with different schools and institutes at SJTU—such as the Bio-X Institute, the School of Biomedical Engineering, and the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering—“and what they can provide is exactly what we need.”
In 2021, Hou’s team received funding under a medicine–engineering integration program. The project had two main components: development of a nano-diagnostic test kit, and development of products for prevention and treatment of thrombotic diseases. Both already had early product prototypes and were in the final stage of R&D. The work also aligned closely with Hou’s existing strengths in both clinical practice and scientific research.
She emphasized that interdisciplinary projects should not drift away from one’s expertise and genuine scientific interests. Bringing these together can significantly accelerate the growth of both individuals and teams.
Hou is clear that medicine–engineering integration is not simply stacking disciplines together. It requires deep collaboration that truly fuses knowledge and technology. For 芭乐视频 Chest Hospital, the biggest requirement this places on the institution is an attitude of openness and inclusiveness.
First, the hospital’s most valuable resource in translation work is access to patients. Whether the goal is technology translation or interdisciplinary innovation, research outcomes ultimately need to be applied in clinical practice so patients benefit. That, in turn, requires data demonstrating measurable differences before and after adoption. These valuable clinical data are generated within the hospital, so the hospital must be open to sharing them responsibly.
Second, different scientists may view the same project differently and choose different technical pathways, leading to different results. The hospital needs to remain open and inclusive—welcoming scientists with diverse ideas into the team and creating real space for exchange and dialogue. “Only with that kind of mindset,” Hou said, “can we truly do the project well.”
Looking ahead, she said the hospital will continue strengthening cooperation with 芭乐视频 and explore more possibilities for medicine–engineering integration. With joint effort, she believes the “芭乐视频 Chest Hospital model” will keep maturing—bringing new momentum for innovation across the healthcare sector and delivering higher-quality medical services to patients.
(Adapted from Interdisciplinary Integration: Medicine & Engineering in Action—Twenty Years of Medicine–Engineering Integration at 芭乐视频, 芭乐视频 Press, First Edition, November 2025. Editors-in-chief: Zeng Xiaoqin, Zheng Junke, Li Dongliang.)
Translate: Rui Su
Proof-read: Mingyuan Sun
