At present, PUMCH is accelerating its development as a pilot hospital for high-quality development and as a national medical center. The implementation of the “special program of clinical research for central high-level hospitals” (hereinafter referred to as “special program of clinical research”) and the release of the “Pilot Program for Enhancing the Clinical Research and Translation Capability of High-level Hospitals” (hereinafter referred to as “Pilot Program”) by 11 national-level institutions have given new impetus to the innovation-driven development of PUMCH.

Improving the Innovation System to Foster New Impetus and Advantages

The plan and operation system of the special program of clinical research embody the strategic wisdom of top medical scientists in China and represent the first attempts for establishing a new research funding model in clinical medicine.

At the beginning of the special program, PUMCH established an organizational and leadership system featuring relative independence between “decision-making, execution and supervision” as well as an operational system along the “administrative and technical” lines separately. This put in place the proper organizational structure for efficient and standardized high-level clinical research. The hospital has set up a leading group for the pilot program and an office for the special program, as well as an independent supervision group. An expert committee composed of  strategic scientists nationwide and a secretarial team composed of young experts of PUMCH were set up to steer and keep a firm grip on the special program technically. The combination of the “weekly report” system for the special tasks and the rule of reporting major matters for approval, as well as the emphasis on the underpinning mechanisms and standardized procedures ensure that the decision-makers can be properly informed to set the direction forward, control quality and facilitate implementation.  

With the health and well-being of people in mind, PUMCH benchmarks itself against world-class healthcare, focuses itself on patients’ needs, emphasizes the importance of translation of innovative outcomes, and works relentlessly to achieve its goals that are ultimately about taming the “acute, critical, intractable and rare diseases” at the crux of health challenges. The hospital proceeds with the pilot work progressively in three stages, namely “overall arrangement, dynamic adjustment and key breakthroughs”; in line with the “internal-external, top-bottom and local-global” combination, PUMCH integrates favorable resources inside and outside and establishes a national research network to address key issues. Giving overall consideration of  the hospital’s planning for discipline development during the 14th Five-year Plan period and the development goals of the national medical center, PUMCH, through commission, appointment and encouragement of unfettered competition, advances four kinds of projects, namely cultivation of excellent young talents, specialty improvement, nurturing of key talents, and major breakthroughs. The hospital also pushes forward capacity building projects in a coordinated manner. It establishes an integrated chain of industrial, academic and research efforts through building platforms and systems and pursues across-the-board enhancement in its ability for independent innovation.

“The hospital has made a lot of planning and preparation in project organization and management as well as process management mechanism,” said one expert at the expert discussion meeting organized by the National Health Commission, “PUMCH sets a good example for proceeding with clinical research projects in a coordinated manner and its experience is positive exploration for the state to set up special program of clinical research in the future!”

Building Advantages in New Frontier Areas

To maximize the benefits from the funding for the special program of clinical research, the hospital coordinates three kinds of projects, namely platform capacity building, nurturing of scientific and technological innovation talents, and clinical research. Accordingly, PUMCH musters the consensus to “abolish, revise or establish” relevant rules and mechanism in alignment with the pilot program. With the issues to be addressed, the outcomes and the goals in mind, the hospital has made the timetable and roadmap for producing major research outcomes that can make a difference in clinical practices. The hospital also seeks to benefit more people by bringing quality healthcare resources to the community level and comprehensively improve its clinical expertise.

At the beginning of the year, PUMCH held 8 meetings to discuss high-quality development, which enabled it to see things more clearly and devise a more specific pathway ahead. From April to May, the hospital organized 11 assessment meetings of discipline high-quality development to plan and get ready for discipline innovation. From June to October, dozens of project evaluation meetings identified the key tasks for the special program of clinical research.

In November, 9 major projects were approved, including “the establishment of the ‘four-early’ prevention and treatment system for pancreatic tumors as well as the research on key technologies and strategies” and “R&D on new diagnosis and treatment technologies for rare diseases as well as the translation research”. This marked the end of special program approvals of the year and the beginning of the phase of studying implementation for all the 460 projects of the first batch in the four major categories, namely cultivation of excellent young talents, specialty improvement, nurturing of key talents, and major breakthroughs.

The special program of clinical research provides a stable source of funding for researchers, and the favorable policies in the pilot program provide strong support for various categories of innovative platforms and ever stronger incentives for clinical researchers. The sound ecosystem for innovation begins to demonstrate its strong vitality.  

Building a Broad Stage for Young Talents

The key to innovation lies in talents. PUMCH has opened a new chapter for recognizing, cherishing, bringing together and giving full play to talents. The hospital has set up a special program that brings in leading talents in scientific and technological innovation, gives full play to existing experts, and builds a team of chief scientists in basic research-clinical practices-translation. It invests extensively in setting up special programs that select and cultivate top-notch young and middle-aged talents with great potential.

The state requires that “the proportion of clinical research funding allocated to young people under 45 exceed 20% of the overall funding”, but PUMCH exceeds 35%. At the top-level design phase of the special program for clinical research, PUMCH decided to implement an incentive program for the young, which encourages young scientists to take the initiative and conduct original research and seeks to build a talent reserve for enhancing scientific and technological prowess and self-sufficiency. Eligibility for the major projects is not based on professional titles or seniority but merit. Thus, many young people become heads of projects. The special program of clinical research is a testing ground for the hospital to carry out high-level clinical research and it has become a fertile ground for meritocracy.

The hospital selected young and middle-aged backbone talents from 17 departments to form a “special secretarial team”, which dynamically tracks project execution throughout the process under the “responsibility system”. In this way, hybrid innovation talents are nurtured.  

“PUMCH should strive to be a first-class player in the following six aspects, namely medical technology, talent team building, scientific research, cultural preservation, service and managerial efficiency,” said Xia Xiande, Vice Minister of Finance, during his visit to the hospital. Minister Xia pointed out that PUMCH should become a model for high-quality development of public hospitals and play a leading role in this process.

On July 27, 2022, the PUMCH expert committee for the special program of clinical research was established

On October 26, 2022, the third-round expert discussion meeting was held for the major breakthrough projects under the special program of clinical research

Written by: Chen Xiao and Chen Mingyan

Picture courtesy: Sun Liang

Translator: Liu Haiyan

Editor: Wang Yao