In the 21st century, medicine is undergoing revolutionary changes: genetic technology is reshaping the foundations of medicine, information technology is creating new approaches to healthcare, and engineering technology is accelerating innovation in medical equipment. Bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, nanoscience and new materials, as well as robotics and new medical devices, are undergoing extensive and in-depth convergence with medicine and health sciences. New themes in medical development—such as precision medicine, translational medicine, and intelligent medicine—have emerged in response to these trends, while new approaches, methods, and models in healthcare—including smart healthcare, ubiquitous healthcare, and internet-based healthcare—are flourishing. In this era of rapid development in medical technology and the health industry, there is an urgent need to cultivate outstanding talent with interdisciplinary knowledge in information science, engineering, and medicine to address the unprecedented challenges facing human health.

Our mission is to lead the development of medicine through engineering. HIT leverages its strengths in world-class disciplines such as information science, engineering, and materials science to spearhead innovation and talent development in 21st-century medicine and medical engineering. The School boasts a multidisciplinary faculty comprising distinguished scholars and renowned educators, including members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and experts from national-level science and technology programs. It currently has over 40 full-time faculty members and more than 30 interdisciplinary instructors. Nearly 80% of the faculty have extensive experience studying and working abroad. The School has appointed an Academic Committee composed of international academic luminaries—including members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the National Academy of Medicine (USA)—to provide strategic guidance for the School’s development, particularly in talent cultivation. In response to the urgent need for talent with cutting-edge interdisciplinary knowledge in the fields of genetic technology, precision medicine, and new drug development, Harbin Institute of Technology established the world’s first Bioinformatics program in 2002. After 20 years of development, it has become a globally leading training base for bioinformatics professionals, having educated over 400 specialized bioinformatics experts. In 2021, the School launched the Intelligent Medical Engineering and Biomedical Sciences programs, focusing on cultivating high-level talent for the fields of new medicine, internet-based healthcare, intelligent biomedical instruments, and medical big data. The School offers a first-level discipline in Biomedical Engineering and shares first-level disciplines in Computer Science and Technology, Instrument Science and Technology, and Software Engineering. It currently has over 50 doctoral advisors and more than 100 doctoral students. The school offers more than 10 national-level first-class courses for undergraduate studies, with instruction provided by numerous national and provincial-level distinguished teachers as well as a group of outstanding faculty members.

The school has established a “3+1” talent development program with King’s College London, which implements integrated undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral training. The School maintains internship and practical training bases at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the 301 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and the Affiliated Hospitals of Harbin Medical University. It has also established corporate internship and practical training bases with JD Health, Tencent Health, and Mindray Medical.

The School has established world-class academic research directions in Precision Medicine and Health, Bioinformatics and Genomics, Nanomedicine and Pharmaceuticals, Intelligent Medical Engineering, Digital Healthcare, and Natural Products and Nutritional Health; It houses the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Bio-Big Data, the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Microsystems and Microstructure Manufacturing, the National-Local Joint Laboratory for Molecular Synthesis, Transformation, and Separation of Cold-Region Nutrients, and the Heilongjiang Provincial Research Center for Biomedical Information Technology and Systems Engineering. As the sole university institution, it leads the construction of the National Innovation Center for High-Performance Medical Devices and shares access to the State Key Laboratory of Robotics Technology and Systems, the National Engineering Laboratory for Fault-Tolerant Computer Technology and Systems, and the National Engineering Laboratory for Information Security on campus. The School possesses world-class platforms for large-scale genome sequencing, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and single-cell sequencing, as well as petabyte-scale genome data storage and dedicated CPU/GPU computing platforms for analysis. It also features cryo-electron microscopy and biomolecular structure analysis platforms, metabolomics mass spectrometry platforms, large-scale medical imaging deep learning experimental platforms, and nanomedicine research platforms. The School led the international large-scale genomic science and technology project, the “100,000 Genomes Project,” leveraging HIT’s strengths in bioinformatics and employing computational algorithms to establish a world-class hub for genomic science. In the field of nanomedicine and pharmaceuticals, the school has achieved substantial research results over the years in the design and development of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease, integrated drug screening and therapeutic mechanisms for cancer diagnosis and treatment, and pathogen detection. It pioneered the development of swimming micro- and nano-robots that integrate self-propulsion with intelligent carriers, and achieved the first-ever active targeted treatment of brain gliomas using these robots. In the field of food nutrition and health, the university has explored the effects of the space environment on model plants, providing data support for research on space biology, food nutrition, and food safety. It has developed a series of products designed to improve cognitive function, regulate intestinal homeostasis, and provide radiation protection.  Building on a century of engineering heritage and driving the future of medicine, the School of Medicine and Health at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) will be guided by 4P Medicine. We will focus on cutting-edge disciplines and major critical issues to create new methods, tools, approaches, and pathways that advance medical progress. We will cultivate outstanding talent capable of meeting the innovation needs of future medicine and medical engineering, and build a “national flagship” that leads the development of new medical technologies. In doing so, we will make greater contributions to building a Healthy China and enhancing the health and well-being of the people.