The Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (commonly referred to as the Cardiology Department of FAHZU), was founded in 1991. Through the relentless dedication of successive directors including Dr. Chen Gongsen, Dr. Chen Junzhu, and Dr. Zhu Jianhua, and generations of staff, the department has evolved into a national-level cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment center integrating medical care, education, scientific research, and prevention. It is recognized as a National Key Clinical Specialty, a Zhejiang Provincial Key Medical Discipline, and a Zhejiang University Key Discipline. It serves as a core member leading the establishment of the Zhejiang Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cardio-Cerebrovascular Diseases. Furthermore, it is among the First Batch of National Standardized Training Bases for Cardiovascular Specialists, a National Training Base for Cardiovascular Interventional Diagnosis and Therapy (Coronary Heart Disease, Arrhythmias), a National Clinical Pharmacology Base, and a National Site for Conferring Doctoral and Master's Degrees as well as a Postdoctoral Research Station. In the "Best Hospital Specialties Reputation Rankings" released by the Hospital Management Institute of Fudan University, our department consistently ranks among the top nationwide.
As of December 2025, the Cardiology Department of FAHZU operates across three major core campuses: Qingchun, Zhijiang, and Yuhang, with 188 open beds and 8 independent digital interventional catheterization labs (an additional 5 are in the planning/construction phase). Annual outpatient visits exceed 400,000, annual inpatient discharges surpass 20,000, and annual cardiac interventional procedures number over 18,000, maintaining a leading position in scale and technical expertise within East China. The department is fully accredited as a National Chest Pain Center, Atrial Fibrillation Center, Heart Failure Center (CDQI), and Valve Center in China, establishing a standardized diagnosis and treatment system covering the entire spectrum from cardiovascular emergencies and critical illnesses to chronic disease management.
The department boasts a well-structured, highly qualified, and innovative team. We currently have over 200 medical staff, including 72 physicians. Among the physicians, there are 19 with senior professional titles (full professors), 19 with associate senior titles, and 20 with intermediate titles; 87.3% hold doctoral degrees. The team includes 1 Academician of the European Academy of Sciences and Yangtze River Scholar Distinguished Professor, 1 Principal Scientist of the National Key R&D Program for Young Scholars concurrently recognized as a Zhejiang Provincial Outstanding Young Scholar, and 1 Excellent Young Scholar. There are 8 doctoral supervisors and 11 master's supervisors.
The Director of the department, Professor Guo Xiaogang, holds academic positions such as Committee Member of the Informatics Group, Chinese Society of Cardiology, and Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Society of Cardiology. He is recognized as a High-level Innovative Health Talent in Zhejiang Province, leads multiple research projects including the National Natural Science Foundation Key Program, Regional Joint Funds, and Provincial Key R&D Programs, and has received the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award.
In 2019, the department fully recruited internationally renowned vascular biologist Professor Xu Qingbo (Academician of the European Academy of Sciences, Yangtze River Scholar) to serve as the Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute. He leads basic and translational research in stem cells and vascular regeneration, ranking among the world's top 3% of medical scientists, significantly enhancing the department's capacity for original innovation.
As a national-level training base, the department is recognized as the cradle for cardiovascular interventional physicians in Zhejiang Province, having trained over 700 key interventional technique specialists for the nation.
· Academic Education: We train dozens of postdoctoral fellows, doctoral, and master's students annually. Faculty members serve as editors or contributors to national planning textbooks such as Diagnostics.
· Continuing Medical Education (CME): We receive numerous domestic and international visiting physicians each year and regularly organize national and provincial CME programs and academic symposia.
· International Exchange: We maintain long-term collaborations with world-renowned cardiac centers such as Stanford University, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and University Hospital Zurich (Switzerland). We routinely select young talents for overseas training to absorb cutting-edge international concepts and technologies.
