The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University

Founded in 1910, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University is one of South China's oldest and most prestigious academic hospitals, directly administered by the National Health Commission, and has received the NHC's top A++ performance grade — placing it in the top 1% of all tertiary hospitals nationwide — for five consecutive years.

The hospital holds 5 national key disciplines and 36 national clinical key specialties, the largest number of NHC-designated key specialties of any hospital in South China, and operates across multiple campuses including its main Yuexiu campus and the Nansha Hospital (opened 2023), with an estimated 5,000 open beds and nearly 4.9 million outpatient and emergency visits annually.

It is the birthplace of organ transplantation in China: in 1972, Professor Mei Hua performed the country's first successful kidney transplant here; in 1996, the team completed Asia's first combined liver-kidney transplant; in 2017, the world's first ischemia-free liver transplant; and in 2021, the world's first ischemia-free heart transplant — applying ex-situ normothermic machine perfusion to eliminate ischemia-reperfusion injury, a breakthrough with global implications for transplant medicine. With 36 national key specialties spanning nephrology, organ transplantation, neurology, critical care, ENT, and general surgery, the hospital serves as the region's apex referral center for complex multi-organ disease and rare conditions.