Department of Medical Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University was formerly known as the Department of Parasitology, Xiangya School of Medicine. In 1949, The discipline of parasitology branched from the biology department and became an independent teaching and research entity. In 1954, the Department of Parasitology was formally established. For more than half a century, the Teaching and Research Department of Parasitology has been carrying out the teaching reform and practice of human parasitology in accordance with the school spirit of “seeking truth and being accurate, must be professional” and the fine teaching tradition of “rigorous and realistic” in Southern Xiangya. It has achieved fruitful results in basic medical teaching, scientific research, discipline construction, and higher medical personnel training, and has made positive contributions to the prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases in China. For example, Professor Chen Huxin, a nationally outstanding schistosomiasis control scientist, Professor Liu Duo, a renowned malaria research expert, and Professor Yi Xinyuan, a schistosomiasis immunology expert, and Professor Wang Shiping, the first and second level candidate of the national “Talent Project in the New Millennium”. Since its establishment,the Department of Medical Parasitology has been successively awarded the titles of “Advanced Laboratory of Hunan Province”,"Excellent Teaching and Research Section of Hunan Province” and “Excellent Teaching and Research Section of Central South University”. Its first graduate students were enrolled in 1964, and the first batch of master's degrees was granted in 1981. In 1993, The doctoral degree in pathogen biology was granted in 1993 and the post-doctoral station was established in 1996. It was approved as the provincial key discipline of Pathogen biology in the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” and “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” of Hunan Province in 2001. In 2008, it was recognized as the “Key Laboratory of Hunan Province”. In 2009, Pathogen Biology (parasitology) of Xiangya School of Medicine was rated as grade A among 41 similar second-level disciplines in China. Since 2011, the discipline has taken the lead in the direction of pathogen infection and immunity in the first-level key discipline of basic medicine in Hunan Province. Based on the construction of school-level excellent courses in 2006,the course“Human Parasitology” successively won the titles of “Hunan Provincial Excellent Course” and “National Excellent Course” in 2009, andwonthe first batch of “National Excellent Resource-sharing Course” in 2016. In 2019,the course“Medical Parasitology” was successively awarded the “Central South Golden Course” of Central South University undergraduate course construction project and Hunan Provincial High-quality Online Open Course Construction project of Colleges and Universities. In 2021, it was rated as the first-class online undergraduate course of Hunan Province.

The Department of Medical Parasitologycurrently has 1 professor, 5 associate professors, and 2 lecturers, all of them have doctoral degrees, 5 of 8 faculty have overseas study experience, and 7 have hosted or are hosting national scientific research projects including the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It undertakes the theoretical and experimental teaching of the “Medical Parasitology” and “Human Parasitology” courses for medical students at all levels and majors in the eight-year, five-year, and four-year programs, and the doctoral course “Clinical Pathogenic Biology”, the postgraduate course “Pathogenic Biology and Humans”, and the school-selected course “Pathogenic Biology and Human Health”.

In recent 5 years, its faculty have approved 6 National Natural Science Foundation and 3 Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province, have publishednearly 30 papersinSCIjournals. Ithas been theeditor in chief of the Twelfth and 13th Five-Year National Planning Textbooks “Medical Parasitology” and “Medical Parasitology” (Adapted in English) 4 times. Ithasalsoeditedmore than 30 national textbooks, compiling reference books and large-scale monographs. Besides, it was awarded the second prize of Natural Science in Hunan Province once and the second prize of Scientific and Technological Progress in Hunan Province once. At the same time, it has won the prize in the National College (Medical) micro-lesson Teaching Competition, the second prize in the Classroom Teaching Competition of Ordinary Colleges and Universities in Hunan Province, and a number of teaching awards, such as “Top ten Lectures” of Central South University. It also guidedundergraduatestudents to win the first and second prizes in the National College Students Basic Medical Innovation Forum and Experimental Design Competition.

Research directions:(1)Infection and immunity of parasites (Schistosoma,Toxoplasma); (2) Research and development of anti-parasitic drugs; (3)Glioma; (4) Structural determinationof important proteins.

With the deepening of the prevention and control of the five major parasitic diseases in China, coupled with the increase of population mobility, frequent international exchanges, and changes in ecological and dietary habits in the past 30 years,the spectrum of parasitic diseases in China has changed, especially the continuous occurrence of imported and food-borne parasitic diseases, and frequent clinical cases. Our department has become an authoritative unit and social service department in Hunan Province and even in central and southern China for the indispensable differential diagnosis and treatment consultation of clinical intractable diseases of parasitic diseases, which has solved the practical clinicalproblems and exerted a great social impact.

Hotline for experts on parasitic diseases: 0731-82355006;

Address: Room 401, Department of Medical Parasitology, No.2 Teaching Building, Xiangya Medical College, No. 110 Xiangya Road, Kaifu District, Changsha.