He is the executive deputy director of theDepartment of Neurosurgery of Huashan Hospital (hereinafter referred to asHuashan Neurosurgery) and is regarded as "a man standing on the pinnacleof neurosurgery." A former student of academician Zhou Liangfu, he is thethird-generation successor of "Huashan Neurosurgery" after itsfounder, professor Shi Yuquan, and second-generation heir academician ZhouLiangfu.

He also is the president of HuashanHospital. He is determined to lead Huashan Hospital with a firm conviction,unity, and the entrepreneurial passion of the Huashan people to march forwardtowards the goal of "building China's most influential and competitiveinternational hospital."

His name is Mao Ying, a professor andwell-known neurosurgery specialist, the president of Huashan Hospital at FudanUniversity, and the executive deputy director of Huashan Neurosurgery.

Determined to Be a Doctor as a Child Underthe Influenced of His Mother

Mao Ying's life was destined to beassociated with hospitals since his mother, who had a great influence on him,was a general surgeon.

As a child, Mao Ying often went to thehospital with his mother on night shifts. He slept in the office while hismother raced against the clock in the emergency room to save patients. Almostevery day, Mao Ying listened to his mother describing the cases she handled andfelt his mother's perseverance in balancing both work and life.

What touched Mao Ying the most was thesense of accomplishment and happiness of being a doctor he felt from hismother, especially when patients were fully recovered and discharged from thehospital after treatment. Influenced by what he had seen and heard from hismother, he made up his mind to become a doctor, an angel in a white gown justlike his mother.

After graduating from college, Mao Yingchose to practice in neurosurgery, the most challenging medical specialty, andstudied under academician Zhou Liangfu at Huashan Neurosurgery. Mao Ying statedthat neurosurgery had the most stringent precise micromanipulation and motorskill requirements as well as psychological demand.  He was very confident in his own hands-onability.

Mao Ying was very grateful for his teacher,academician Zhou Liangfu. He said that Zhou Liangfu always meticulously taughthim hands-on in the operating rooms. He received formal and professionalneurosurgery training, which provided a good foundation for his professionaladvancement. For many years, he has been deeply impressed by his mentor’sintegrity, charisma, rigorous academic approaches, exquisite surgical skills,and courage to make innovations and breakthroughs.

The road to being a neurosurgeon is longand difficult. In addition to talent, neurosurgeons also need to train theirskills under a variety of circumstances. There were so many times during theweekend, when academician Zhou Liangfu took him to the laboratory to practicesurgical skills by doing operations on the heads of corpses.  There was a scene that Mao Ying still remembersvery clearly. His mentor always brought his puppy to the laboratory. When hetaught his students anatomy, the puppy laid on the side and watchedquietly.  Mao Ying feels that this sceneis full of human touch and misses that time very much.

Mao Ying is especially grateful to hismentor for encouraging him, not too long after he started working, to go abroadto learn advanced technologies and broaden his horizons. Mao Ying studied inJapan, the United States, Australia, and other countries.  He attracted widespread attention from hisinternational colleagues due to his outstanding performance. The management atHuashan Hospital worried that he would accept job offers abroad. However, hereturned as scheduled every time.

"At the beginning, we followed andlearned technologies from others. Then, we started to innovate independentlyand kept in pace with them. Now, we begin to lead the way in biomedicinemanufacturing technologies and materials." Mao Ying said in the 1990s,other countries were indeed much more advanced than us. However, since hismentor had high expectations for him, he had no intentions to stay abroad. Whathe wanted was to study well and then return to serve the motherland.

The Third-Generation Successor of HuashanNeurosurgery

From its founder, Professor Shi Yuquan, tothe second-generation leader, academician Zhou Liangfu, to today’s Mao Ying,Huashan Neurosurgery has been passed down for three generations. Mao Ying said:"Just like playing the passing the flower game, it has passed down to myhands now."

In 1953, Shi Yuquan, now 104-years-old, wastransferred to Huashan Hospital and formally established Huashan Neurosurgery,the earliest neurosurgery department in southern China. The discipline emergedwith only two doctors and eight hospital beds at the time.

While it is difficult to start a business,it is also difficult to keep one. Zhou Liangfu, an academician of the ChineseAcademy of Engineering and regarded as the Asian legendary neurosurgeon,assumed the role as the second-generation leader of " HuashanNeurosurgery". Today, Mao Ying has become the third-generationsuccessor.  In his own words, he is the"coordinator" who will lead everyone in the right direction.

Treating the quality of medical servicewith the upmost importance and creating a world-leading neurosurgery is theunique belief of Huashan Neurosurgery. Mao Ying believes that this can besummarized into a few words: "focus and save lives."

"We should focus on the main businessof neurosurgery, assemble top talents, be the best, strive for perfection andprecision, improve professional skills with the spirit of craftsman, andcontinuously create miracles." Mao Ying said, "We hope to fulfill thedreams of neurosurgeons: a good working environment, facility, andideology."

Huashan Neurosurgery implements the 3Ddecision-making grid quality management system. It strictly follows thephysician’s first consultation responsibility policy with the support fromsubdiscipline specialists. The policy stipulates that the surgeons must besenior physicians and are responsible for patients from their initial visitsand surgeries to follow-up treatments. Huashan Neurosurgery also emphasizesperfecting medical safety measures, establishing diagnosis and treatmentguidelines, and standardizing medical safety indicators. At the same time, itaims to improve the quality management system before, during, and aftersurgeries.

The daily management of HuashanNeurosurgery is guided by the JCI concept (JCI is the abbreviation of JointCommission International, which accredits and certifies health careorganizations and programs across the globe. Its medical service standard isrecognized in the world and represents the highest level of hospital serviceand management.).  Huashan Neurosurgeryimplements 18 core JCI safety policies and achieves a 360° comprehensivecoverage of medical process quality controls. Therefore, it is referred to as "one of the best neurosurgerycenters in the world" by the most authoritative international journal,Neurosurgery.

It is well known that the Department ofNeurosurgery is "the jewel in the crown of Huashan Hospital." If youwant to wear a crown, you must bear its weight. This golden reputation cannotbe easily established by only one generation. Mao Ying believes that the reasonHuashan Neurosurgery is so strong is mainly because it has always maintained astrong heritage from the beginning. Every subsequent generation inherits thesuccess and stands on the shoulders of the “giants” of the previous generation.

Today, Huashan Neurosurgery has 140doctors, 800 beds, and 40 modern professional operating rooms equipped withadvanced equipment for neurosurgery diagnosis and treatment.  It performs 17,000 operations per year, rankingfirst in the country. 70% of patients come from other parts of the countryoutside of Shanghai. 50% to 60% of them have intractable illnesses.

Mao Ying has a clear understanding of thefuture development of the department. "The team cannot expand forever.Once it has reached a certain size, it has to become more specialized and seekexcellence." Mao Ying believes that the development goal of  Huashan Neurosurgery is to be stronger ratherthan bigger. The mission for his generation is for Huashan Neurosurgery tobecome a leader internationally.

The Top-Notch Disciplines Propel AdvancedDisciplines to Form Discipline Groups

In 2012, Mao Ying began to serve as thevice president of Huashan Hospital. In 2019, he took up additionalresponsibility as the assistant dean of Shanghai Medical College at FudanUniversity. These experiences have laid a solid foundation for him to be thepresident of Huashan Hospital.

In his inaugural address as the presidentof Huashan Hospital in July 2020, Mao Ying expressed that he intended to increasethe sense of achievements for the staff at Huashan Hospital and put forward theeffort of building China's most influential and competitive internationalhospital.

Mao Ying has his own views on this goal."Different from that of Zhongshan Hospital and Ruijin Hospital, HuashanHospital's vision is to build the world's most influential and competitiveinternational hospital. It is based on our own foundation, background, andhistory. It is determined by our current situation."

Huashan Hospital is strong in manydisciplines that are well-known in the world. However, there are also many disciplines that lag. Therefore, buildingthe most competitive international hospital based on its top disciplines is adevelopment goal that fits the hospital very well. Mao Ying's definition of themost competitive hospital is a place where patients receive the mostauthoritative diagnosis or the ultimate treatment and care.

Mao Ying believes that Huashan Hospitalfits this definition. It has world-leading disciplines, such as neurology,rehabilitation, dermatology, and limb reconstruction.  It also leads the world in the diagnosis andtreatment of brain diseases of the central nervous system and infectiousdiseases. The infectious diseases department is led by Zhang Wenhong.

Huashan Hospital forms discipline groupsconsisting of its top-notch and advanced disciplines. The intention is to usethe top-notch disciplines to advance the development of other disciplines inthe group. The effects of such interactions in turn drives the development ofits weak disciplines to make up for their shortcomings.  This is an effective development model forHuashan Hospital.

Mao Ying’s role changed from a leadingspecialist in the field of neurosurgery to a president engaged in hospitalmanagement. This is a challenge for him. The most important thing in hisopinion is to allocate time properly. He needs to devote more time and energyto manage the hospital instead of clinical work and surgeries he is familiarwith. The change was difficult, but he overcame it with resolution.  

Speaking of the experience of being apresident, Mao Ying believes that managing a hospital requires dedication. Itis necessary to sacrifice the interest of an individual for the collectiveconcerns of the hospital. When he was a vice president, he could lean on thepresident and let the president make decisions on challenging issues. However,being the president, he must face problems and bear responsibilities for hisdecisions.  Further, the president musthave the ability to unite, collaborate, and lead the vice presidents,department heads, and the administrative department to work towards a commongoal. There must be a democracy instead of a dictatorship.

The most important ability a hospitalpresident should have is learning. This does not mean learning professionalknowledge but learning about hospital management, learning from the success ofothers, learning from personal mistakes, and constantly reflecting and humblyasking others for advice.

According to Mao Ying, as a famous top-tierhospital in Shanghai, Huashan Hospital must contribute to the national YangtzeRiver Delta integration strategy and the development of a global science andinnovation center in Shanghai.

He revealed that Huashan Hospital iscurrently working on the integration of medical care in the Yangtze RiverDelta, forming an interactive service network. Every year, Huashan Hospitaltrains many clinicians from major hospitals in the Yangtze River Delta area onthe latest medical technology. A group of doctors from Huashan Hospital alsovisits major hospitals in the Yangtze River Delta to provide guidance andestablish clinics to promote the latest technology.

Huashan Hospital has also established amulti-tiered diagnosis and treatment and two-way referral system with majorhospitals in the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Critically ill patients canseek treatment at Huashan Hospital quickly. In addition, the West Campus ofHuashan Hospital, located in the Shanghai Hongqiao Development Zone, alsoprovides services in the Yangtze River Delta area as a large specialty andsmall general hospital.

Huashan Hospital is also contributing tothe research and development of new drugs in China and is actively becoming anincubator for biomedical research. The West Campus of Huashan Hospital hasbuilt a huge base for phase one clinical trials of many new drugs. It is worthmentioning that the hospital is working with many clinical research centers notonly in Shanghai and the rest of the country but also in the world.

Innovation is the Main Theme

In Mao Ying's career as a doctor,innovation has always been the main theme. Since becoming a resident physician,his "spark of inspiration" kept flaring. At the beginning of hiscareer, it usually took about four hours to drain blood accumulations frompatients after brain surgeries. All the five layers of gauze would get soakedand need to be replaced. This was a routine work for residents on duty atnight.

Mao Ying was inspired by the negativepressure balls used in the General Surgery Department to drain ascites. Aftercontinuous improvement through experiments and working with manufacturers, adrainage device meeting the needs of neurosurgery was invented. It has sincebeen widely used in neurosurgery.

Cerebral aneurysms are regarded asintracranial time bombs, and the death rate after rupture exceeds 40%. "Ananeurysm is a blood vessel blister. Common aneurysms can be surgically clipped.A large aneurysm is like a weak dam on a river that gets flooded once itbreaks. The problem can be solved by blocking and then redirecting theriver."

Under the guidance of academician ZhouLiangfu, an epiphany came to Mao Ying: implanting a blood vessel from thepatient's body into the brain to supply blood flow and then ligating thediseased cerebral arteries. Because of this innovative "bridging"idea, this once incurable disease has become curable.

Moyamoya is a brain artery disease that isalso difficult to treat. Patients may experience repeated cerebral ischemicinfarction or cerebral hemorrhage, resulting in a high rate of death anddisability. Mao Ying’s team pioneered the “superficial temporal artery - middlecerebral artery anastomosis combining with Encephalo-Duro-Myo-Synangiosis” newsurgical procedure and built a multi-modal evaluation system consisting ofperioperative neurocognitive scale, vascular structure and perfusion, EEG,functional imaging, and computer simulation. They also introduced a newstrategy for individualized vascular reconstruction. The result is thatpatients' neurological and cognitive functions have significantly improvedafter surgery. The rebleeding rate was only 1.9%, and the long-term effectivepatency rate exceeded 93%.

Mao Ying revealed that today, Huashanneurosurgery can treat brain diseases with precise positioning techniques. “Wecan clearly identify the pathological characteristics of each patient’s braintumor, determine its subtype, estimate the patient’s survival time, and carryout targeted treatment. We can use surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy toremove the tumor to the greatest extent and protect brain functions as much aspossible."

Since he began to practice in medicine inthe 1990s, Mao Ying has performed surgeries for many patients. Many of themhave fully recovered and some of them are still alive today. A few years ago,Mao Ying combed through and comprehensively studied his medical recordscollection. Through this effort, he found some suitable brain tumor and patientgene mutation rules. They provide a good basis for future patient treatment. Hewas rewarded the first prize for the Excellent Achievement of ScientificResearch in Higher Education Institutions by the Ministry of Education.

The "Human Brain Planning" Era isan Inevitable Development Trend

In terms of current and future researchdirections, Mao Ying said that there is still an urgent need to conduct moreresearch on the brain. Mao Ying believes that it is inevitable that China willenter the "Human Brain Planning" era, which is to explore thetreatment of various brain diseases by studying the working mechanism of thehuman brain.

"With the help of MRI technology inthe past ten years, our understanding of the brain structure has reached a newheight. It has played a vital role in the accurate diagnosis of variousneurological diseases. However, current research is still in its infancy.  There are still many unknown frontiers to bedeveloped."

In addition, the enormous amount of data,resulted from the rapid development of information technologies, needs to beconsolidated and processed using artificial intelligence for decision-making.If the principles of brain decision-making can be applied to the developmentand research of computer applications, their efficiency as well as dataanalysis and processing capabilities will be advanced by leaps and bounds.

Studying the nervous system is an importantpart of the "Human Brain Planning” effort since neurological diseases arealways intertwined with brains. Among them, cerebrovascular diseases, braintumors, and craniocerebral trauma are the most common ones that can causeparalysis, aphasia, and cognitive dysfunction. Since the damages of these diseases are located inside the brain, theirtreatments are complicated and must be accurate. Based on this, Mao Yingbelieves that further understanding brain circuits, accurately locating brainfunctional areas, and regulating some of the advanced consciousness of thebrain should be the future development direction of neurosurgeons.

In the future, surgeries will have eversmaller incisions to better preserve brain functions. Patients will have abetter quality of life. This is the goal of neurosurgeons.  To achieve this goal, the research directionsof Mao Ying and his team is to mainly focus on understanding, protecting, andregulating the brain. Specifically, it is to extract, recognize, and analyzebrain signals, understand the circuits in the brain and how brain functions,fully preserve brain functions by adopting new surgical technologies likeminimally invasive surgeries, and use electrodes and brain-computer interfaceto regulate the brain.

After experiencing transformations from aspecialist to a department manager and hospital manager, Mao Ying still has asoft spot for clinical work. "Although undertaking multiple positions, Iam still a clinical doctor, which is the most important position for me. Withthe growth of my age and experience, I began to gradually engage in scientificresearch and teaching.  However, my mainwork still revolves around the treatment of central nervous system diseases.”In Mao Ying’s opinion, every doctor is a manager, but the scope and method ofmanagement are different.  Even though heis now engaged in hospital management, he still relies on the team's supportand collaboration.

Although Mao Ying is quite busy, he paysgreat attention to the cultivation of younger generations by educating youngmedical students so that they can grow faster and better. In this regard, MaoYing said: "We often say that medical science matters today, scientificresearch impacts tomorrow, and education influences the day after tomorrow.Therefore, what I practice in clinical medicine is for today, what I manage isfor tomorrow, and what I care about is the medical development for the dayafter tomorrow."