The predecessor of the Mental Health Center of the West China Hospital, SCU, can be traced back to the Neuropsychiatric Teaching Section of the West China Union University Medical Science (six years of schooling, opened in 1914). It is one of the psychiatry and mental health disciplines with the longest history in China, and is also one of the cradles of psychiatric clinic, teaching and scientific research in China.
The Center compiled the first and second editions of the first textbook of Psychiatry in China (1960s), established the first open psychiatric ward (1984), and set up the first domestic judicial psychiatry teaching and research office (1986). Being a national key (nurturing) discipline (since 2007), it is one of the four national regional mental health centers (2008), a key clinical discipline under the National Health Commission (2011), the contracting unit of the state-leveled high-quality course Psychiatry and Mental Health (2012), the first "pilot unit of comprehensive standardization of general hospital mental health services ”under National Standards Committee (2017).
It ranks the first on clinical service scale in psychiatric specialties of general hospitals, with 278 approved beds, more than 340 open beds, 300,000 outpatient visits and more than 6,000 discharges annually. In the last years, the "Sunshine Hospital" project has provided mental health screening and services to more than 100,000 non-psychiatric inpatients every year, and initiated the establishment of the "Sunshine Hospital Alliance" in China, which plays an important role in promoting the development of mental health in general hospitals in China.
As an important training base for mental health talents in China, the Center boasts older generation of famous psychiatrists, such as Professor Chen Yuling, Professor Tao Guotai, Professor Liu Xiehe and Professor Jiang Kaida. As the first institution offering programs for master's degree (since 1978) and Ph.D degree (since 1990) in Psychiatry and Mental Health in China, the Center now has 8 Ph.D tutors, 9 master tutors and enrolls more than 20 master students and Ph.D. students every year.
Over the years, most graduates have had great achievements in curing patients, teaching and research, respectively. For example, Pro. Lu Lin has become the only academician of the Chinese Academy of Psychiatrics and Mental Health Sciences in China, serving as the president of the Sixth Hospital of Peking University and the director of the Institute of Mental Health of Peking University; Pro. Song Weihong has become an academician of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences; Pro. Li Tao receives funding from Outstanding Youth Fund and is honored the title of "Yangtze Scholar", serving as the director of the Mental Health Center of West China Hospital and the vice-chairman of the Psychiatric Branch of the Chinese Medical Association; Pro. Zhang Wei has become the Secretary of the West China Hospital; Pro. Sun Xueli once served as the vice-chairman of the Psychiatric Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, etc.
Adhering to the disciplinary development of scientific research hospitals, the Center has established the research platform and network of mental illness, based on multi-disciplinary cooperation, by making full use of the sufficient and perfect clinical resources of large general hospitals, the clinical and experimental research platform in line with international standards, as well as the WCH telemedicine network and the psychiatric training and research cooperation network covering the whole country. The research team has published academic papers in top journals in the field such as Nature Genetics, Mol Psychiatry, PNAS, Arch Gen Psychiatry, Am J Psychiatry. Hence, the center has been titled with "Innovation Team (2008)"by the Ministry of Education, “ the First Prize of Natural Science Award (2008)" “ the Second Prize of Sci-tech Progress Award(2008) ” ,“the Second Prize of National Natural Science Award（2015）”, "Innovation Research Group of National Natural Science Foundation (2016)", etc.
In the last years, it has declared and received more than 30 national scientific research projects, including key projects and innovative research projects under the National Natural Science Foundation(NSFC), national key research& development plans and Sci-tech support projects under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and national health industry projects. It has undertaken 50 provincial (ministerial) projects, over 60 medical projects on clinical pharmacology research. The Center has a total funds of RMB 100 million yuan.
