A: Brief introduction

The Institute of Reproductive Health (IRH) (the former was the Family Planning Research Institute) was established in 1979 approved by the Ministry of Health of China. IRH is the first institute that combines research, teaching, and clinical work. Also, it is a core member of both the National Key Discipline of Obstetrics＆Gynecology and the National Clinical Research Center on the Diseases of Obstetrics＆Gynecology. It has national-level platforms, including the “National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for New Technology of Contraception and Birth Control” and the “National Clinical Trial Center for Reproductive Health and Infertility Drugs”. In April 2018, as one of the seven major disciplines of basic medicine, "Reproductive Medicine" participated in the “International Evaluation of Basic Medicine Program” and was regarded as a very characteristic direction and very relevant for the international scientific community. Through 40 years’ development, it has become the top national level of the institute in the field of reproductive health.

B: Faculty

Currently, IRH has a rigorous high-level faculty team with 24 faculty members and 19 full-time teachers (9 newly recruited teachers from well-known universities/research institutions at home and abroad in the past 4 years), including 9 professors, 9associated professors, and 2 lecturers, and 100% of the teachers have doctoral degrees. Among them, two are "Hubei Talents" and two are "Outstanding Scholars in Central China".

C. Research

The current research direction of IRH mainly focuses on basic scientific research and clinical application on reproductive health and related diseases. There are three research teams (spermatogenesis and male infertility research team, reproductive immunology research team, reproductive epigenetics regulation and regenerative medicine research team) and a transformation center (reproductive and regenerative medicine transformation research center). In recent 3 years, IRH has received more than 60 research projects at the national, ministerial, and provincial levels. The total funding reached 31.72 million RMB. IRH has won 3 Science and Technology Progress Awards of Hubei Province, 4 Science and Technology Awards of the National Society of Maternal and Child Health, published 3 monographs and applied for more than 10 national invention patents.

D: Teaching

        IRH is the first authorized unit for awarding PhD and master degrees in obstetrics and gynecology. Also, it is the postdoctoral research station in obstetrics and gynecology.

        Two international courses lectured by two foreign guest professors have been opened for the whole university, namely “Reproductive and Immunity” and "Application of Optical Imaging Technology in the Field of Reproductive Medicine".

        Moreover, we promote 5 optional courses open to all undergraduate students in our university, which including contraception and sterility, sexual medicine, human assisted reproductive technology, clinical reproductive medicine, and sex and human reproduction. Currently, there are 10 doctoral supervisors and 20 master supervisors. We have cultivated over 200 students with master degree and 60 PhD students majoring in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Right now, there are 25 doctoral candidates (3 international students) and 42 postgraduate candidates (2 international students).

E: International exchanges and cooperation

IRH has established good cooperation with international organizations and institutions and co-cultivated 20 Ph.D. students with Yale University, National Institutes of Health, UCLA, University of Montana. Heidelberg University, University of Bonn, University of Mainz, University of Munich, University of Jena, University of Ghent and University of Basel.

IRH is a doctoral and master degree-granting point and a mobile post-doctoral station in obstetrics and gynecology. It has established good cooperation with well-known universities and international institutions in the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, South Korea and other countries, and has supported more than 20 visiting scholars to study abroad further. Every year, many outstanding graduate students qualified and received funding from the China Scholarship Council to support their studies in top foreign universities.

IRH intends to be an international institution for reproductive health, which is open to people all over the world who are interested in the fields.