The history of Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology (BIO) can be dated back to
1953 when Beijing Hospital of Otolaryngology, China’s first institute of its
kind, was founded.
BIO was founded in the early years of the new China when social medical
service and sanitation conditions were extremely poor. Under the leadership of
BIO’s early directors Liu Ruihua, Xu Yinxiang and Liu Chan, pioneering
researches on otolaryngology were carried out for four decades. This earned
BIO’s leading position in many academic and clinical fields. The research by Liu
Ruihua in Otology, Xu Yinxiang in tracheoesophageal researches, Qin Tingquan in
inner ear histology and pathology, Liu Qian in clinical audiology, Liu Chan in
inner ear disease and Deng Yuancheng in early intervention to hearing-impaired
children with hearing aids etc. had gained high academic reputation at home and
abroad. This period also witnessed BIO’s production of a number of rare
anatomical specimens and China’s first anatomical illustrations on
Otolaryngology. Furthermore, BIO was the first to carry out research on inner
ear pathological sections throughout the whole fetation period, and hearing and
language rehabilitation of deaf-mute children in China. It also published an
English-Chinese dictionary on Otolaryngology, developed earplugs against noise,
China’s Industrial Noise Norm, and established special clinic for hearing
impairment and vertigo. All these achievements have been vital in establishing
BIO’s leading academic position and influence in China.
From the early 1990s, Han Demin, BIO’s fourth director led BIO into a further
era of development. In order to improve the management and cure of common severe
ENT conditions, clinical Otolaryngology needed to be better integrated with
academic research. BIO, teaming up with the ENT & Head and Neck Surgery
Department of Beijing Tongren Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical
University, established Beijing ENT & Head and Neck Surgery Research Center
in 2002,to focus on the research and clinical management of severe ENT &
Head and Neck diseases. This also paved the way for integrating clinical
departments with research institutes. This new center was able to conduct
comprehensive scientific research through a combined team and achieved great
research results in many fields.
After a decade of rapid development, Beijing ENT & Head and Neck Surgery
Research Center has been accredited as a National Key Discipline Lab in 2002 and
Key Lab of Ministry of Education in 2007. National Life Science and Technology
Talent Base was founded in 2003, having fostered a number of high-level talents
in the discipline. Throughout the latest decade, the Center won three 2nd prizes
of National Sci-tech Award and undertook 68 state-level and 111 provincial
sci-tech programs.
The talent of the team grew to include chair professor of Cheung Kong Scholar
Program of Ministry of Education, National Distinguished Youth Scholar, 15
professors, 14 associate professors, 9 supervisors for doctoral students and 16
supervisors for postgraduate students. Over the years, a total of 103 doctoral
students, 242 postgraduate students and 20 postdoctoral researchers received
training in BIO. BIO also carried out project cooperation and talent training
programs with world first-class universities and institutions in the US and
Europe, improving its rapid development and talent reserve in many research
fields.
Liu Ruihua (1891-1963), graduated from Tianjin Beiyang
Medical School in 1915 and joined Shanghai Harvard Medical College the same
year. He was China’s first otolaryngologist and obtained his doctorate in the
US. He was the one who performed China’s earliest mastoid operation in 1920 and
surgical removal of foreign bodies from trachea and esophagus under bronchoscope
in 1928. He also contributed in the cultivation of otolaryngological
professionals thereafter.
He was elected as the honorary chairman of Chinese Society of
Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) of Chinese Medical Association upon its establishment
in 1952, He was the first editor-in-chief of Chinese Journal of
Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in 1953. He was the director of the
Research Office of Beijing Hospital of Otolaryngology which was later developed
into Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology. He was the first director of Beijing
Institute of Otolaryngology, in charge from 1958 to 1963.
Xu Yinxiang (1907-1986), graduated from Soochow University
in Suzhou in 1928, obtained his doctorate in Peking Union Medical College. He
spent two years in the US focusing on laryngeal and tracheoesophageal studies
since 1940. He was the founder of Beijing Hospital of Otolaryngology, the first
of its kind in China, in 1953. In 1955, he set up the Research Office of Beijing
Hospital of Otolaryngology, and took his posts of vice-president of Beijing
Tongren Hospital and deputy director of BIO in 1958. From 1963 to 1986, he was
the second director of BIO. He had been the deputy chairman of the committees of
Chinese Society of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) of Chinese Medical Association in
his career.
Xu was dedicated to the development of China’s otorhinolaryngology and made
great contributions to talent cultivation, laryngologeal and tracheoesophageal
study. He had won the Special Prize for his “outstanding performance in
fostering professionals” issued by Beijing Municipal Health Bureau. He set up
China’s first occupational laryngeal disease clinic. He spent his whole life
concentrating on bronchoscopy and esophagoscopy study and administration. He
took out countless foreign bodies from bronchus during his medical career. The
Tracheoesophageal Science compiled by him is the only work of its kind in China.
He also published the first English-Chinese Dictionary on Otolaryngology.
Liu Chan (1927- ), professor, doctorial supervisor, graduated from Peking Union Medical College in 1955, worked at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Iowa from 1981 to 1983. From 1985 to 1994, he was the third director of BIO, director of ENT Department of Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University and vice-chairman of the sixth committee of the Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of the Chinese Medical Association. In 1983, he became the first to present China’s survey on people with deaf and dumb disabilities at WHO meeting. He was appointed and served as China’s deafness-prevention consultant of the WHO for 20 years (1986-2006).
In his career, he was devoted to the research of vestibular physiology, deafness and vertigo. He was the first to use anisodamine in the treatment of vertigo. He was awarded the national prizes several times (1981, 1984) for his achievements on anisodamine (a novel medicine)- deafness prevention study. In 1986 he received a national funding, which was the first key state program undertaken by BIO since its establishment. He won the prize of expert with outstanding contribution from Beijing municipal government in 1987 and has been an visiting professor of the University of Basel, Switzerland since 1990. He retired from his post in 1994, and has been serving the BIO as a consultant ever since.
Han Demin (1951- ), professor, doctorial supervisor, graduated from China Medical University in 1976. After years of study in Kanazawa Medical University Japan, he obtained his M.D and Ph.D. in 1990. He joined BIO in 1990 working as a post-doctor. He served as the forth director of BIO from 1994 to 2012 and the director of Beijing Tongren Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University from 2000 to 2012, He was the chairman of Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of the Chinese Medical Association from 2005 to 2012 and the director of China’s first Deafness Prevention Cooperation Center of the World Health Organization in 2008. Working as the executive director-general of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, he devoted himself in the fight against SARS in 2003.
Since 1991, he has introduced and promoted the development of nasal endoscopic surgical techniques, artificial hearing techniques, diagnosis and treatment techniques of upper airway dysfunction in sleep, minimally invasive technique of head and neck surgery, and clinical audiology in China. He was awarded the National Awards in 2001, 2006 and 2009, and obtained 15 patents. In 2007, he was awarded by Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation for his contributions to the scientific and technological progress. He has traveled to southern Africa, neighboring countries and the poor and remote regions of China with his colleagues for the promotion of deafness and blindness prevention knowledge, research and training of relevant professionals etc. In 2012, he was awarded the South-South Award for International Humanity Spirit of the United Nations in Geneva.
Zhang Luo (1969 -), professor, doctorial supervisor. Zhang obtained his M.D. from the Capital Medical University in 2000 and Ph.D in management from Tianjin University in 2011. He worked as postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Physiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School from 2001 to 2003, won the funds for outstanding youth of the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2010 and was appointed as guest professor of Cheung Kong Scholars by the Ministry of Education in 2012. He was appointed as deputy director of Beijing Tongren Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University in 2010 and the fifth director of BIO in 2013.
Zhang specializes in pathogenesis and clinical diagnosis and treatment of allergic rhinitis and other nasal mucosa inflammatory lesions and has served as director of Beijing Rhinology Research Laboratory and co-director of the respiratory research laboratory of Ghent University. In 2012, he became a member of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum (CIA), and the chairman elect of the Chinese Society of Allergology of the Chinese Medical Association.
