Beijing Children's Hospital (School of Pediatrics, National Children's Medical Center), Capital Medical University

The National Children's Medical Center's core specialty in pediatric rehabilitation, a flagship department of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine in Beijing, and aligned with the International Federation of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine (ICF-CY) pediatric rehabilitation system, is a comprehensive treatment center in China for pediatric brain injury, developmental disorders, rare neuromuscular diseases, and complex cases of adolescent scoliosis.

Historical Origins and Spiritual Inheritance:

The Department of Rehabilitation was formerly affiliated with the Neurological Rehabilitation Center of Beijing Children's Hospital, and was officially established as an independent department in January 2014. Leveraging the platform advantage of Beijing Children's Hospital as a National Children's Medical Center (approved in 2017), the department has gradually built a pediatric rehabilitation discipline system that integrates traditional Chinese and Western medicine, combines medical education, and integrates medicine and engineering. The first department director, Professor Lü Zhongli, graduated from the Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion at Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1988. He has been engaged in pediatric acupuncture and moxibustion for 26 years and is a director of the Beijing Acupuncture and Moxibustion Society, a standing director of the Beijing Rehabilitation Society, and a standing member of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Professional Committee of the Rehabilitation Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association. He laid the foundation for the department's discipline with "acupuncture and moxibustion as the foundation, and integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine."

Core business operational efficiency:

The department offers comprehensive rehabilitation services for multiple disciplines, serving patients from neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, dermatology, as well as those with hemophilia and rheumatism requiring rehabilitation. Rehabilitation treatments encompass modern programs such as physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), hydrotherapy (HT), speech-language therapy (ST), sensory integration training, wax therapy, muscle stimulation therapy, brain loop therapy, biofeedback therapy, orthopedic braces, and special education, while also integrating traditional rehabilitation programs such as acupuncture and massage. In 2016, a pediatric lower limb gait rehabilitation system was purchased, utilizing suspension weight reduction, a treadmill, and a lower limb exoskeleton to provide professional walking training. More than 500 people have completed lower limb walking training sessions. In May 2022, a lower limb exoskeleton robot was introduced to achieve high-intensity, repetitive, and scientific gait training.

Discipline Positioning and Benchmarking:

As a flagship department of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine at the Beijing municipal level, relying on the platforms of the National Children's Medical Center and the School of Pediatrics of Capital Medical University, it undertakes clinical, teaching, and research tasks in pediatric rehabilitation. Zhang Guojun, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Neurological Center of Beijing Children's Hospital, pointed out at the 2025 Brain Health Conference that significant progress has been made in research on pediatric brain function reconstruction: neuromodulation intervention methods are becoming increasingly diverse, biological neurofeedback interventions are becoming more varied, and the exploration and practice of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction in this field are constantly deepening. The department is jointly developing a robot for the rehabilitation and treatment of children with autism, which can collect data on the child's facial expressions, eye contact, and language in real time, and guide them in social practice through human-computer interaction.

National Children's Medical Center (Beijing); National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases; National Child Cancer Monitoring Center; Key Laboratory for Major Pediatric Diseases of the Ministry of Education; 10 National Key Clinical Specialties (Pediatric Surgery, Pediatric Respiratory Diseases, Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Pediatric Critical Care, etc.); National Pediatric Drug Clinical Trial Platform; National Standardized Training Base for Pediatric Specialists.

National Children's Medical Center, National Key Discipline of Pediatrics, National Key Clinical Specialty; the largest national referral center for complex and critical pediatric diseases and rare pediatric diseases in China, and the affiliated unit of the National Children's Medical Center Rare Disease Center; benchmarked against Boston Children's Hospital in the United States and the Pediatric Complex and Rare Disease Center of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in the United Kingdom.

The National Children's Medical Center, a national key discipline of pediatrics, a national key clinical specialty, and the leading unit of the Futang Children's Medical Development and Research Center; ranked second in the national ranking of pediatric internal medicine by Fudan University; a national referral center for complex and critical pediatric illnesses, pediatric oncology, and rare pediatric diseases; benchmarked against Boston Children's Hospital in the United States and Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in the United Kingdom. The predecessor of Beijing Children's Hospital, affiliated with Capital Medical University, was the Beiping Private Children's Hospital, co-founded in 1942 by Academician Zhu Futang, a pioneer of modern pediatrics in my country. It is a tertiary-level Class A comprehensive pediatric hospital integrating medical treatment, scientific research, teaching, and healthcare, and was approved as a National Children's Medical Center in 2017. Adhering to the hospital motto of "Public Spirit, Compassion, Diligence, and Harmony," the hospital boasts three academicians—Zhu Futang, Hu Yamei, and Zhang Jinzhe—among the only pediatricians in China, and has produced outstanding representatives such as Jia Liqun, a National Outstanding Communist Party Member, and Qian Suyun, a National March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter. The hospital has three campuses: Xicheng, Shunyi, and Yizhuang. The Xicheng campus has 970 beds, and the Yizhuang campus, planned to have 1200 beds, is scheduled to begin construction in 2025.

Core business operational efficiency:

The hospital sees approximately 2.9 million outpatient visits and 80,000 inpatients annually, performing over 35,000 surgeries. It currently has 3,443 employees, including 1,078 physicians, 344 of whom hold senior professional titles and 410 of whom hold associate senior professional titles. The hospital boasts a national key discipline in pediatrics, 12 national platforms, and 10 national key clinical specialties (Pediatric Critical Care, Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Pediatrics, Pediatric Surgery, Clinical Nursing, Pediatric Hematology, Pediatric Oncology, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Neurosurgery, and Dermatology).

Discipline Positioning and Core Strengths:

Since the Fudan University edition of the China Hospital Specialty Reputation Ranking was released in 2010, the hospital has ranked first in "Pediatric Surgery" and second in "Pediatric Internal Medicine" for 14 consecutive years; and since 2015, it has ranked first in the China Hospital Science and Technology Evaluation (Pediatrics) ranking for 8 consecutive years. Its core advantages can be summarized as a four-dimensional integration of "profound historical foundation × leading platform scale × high-level center for difficult and critical illnesses × group-based radiation": As the chairman unit of the Pediatrics Branch and Pediatric Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, it has established a consultation center for difficult cases and an international telemedicine center, and its diagnostic and treatment level for difficult and critical pediatric diseases is among the leading in China; in 2013, it took the lead in establishing the Futang Children's Medical Development and Research Center, which innovated the "patients do not move, doctors move" model. The number of council members has reached 76, covering more than 3,000 primary medical institutions in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government across the country.