To strengthen China's trauma care system, optimize the regional allocation of high-quality medical resources, and enhance national trauma care capacity, the National Health Commission approved the establishment of the National Center for Trauma Medicine (NCTM) in September 2019, with Peking University People's Hospital serving as the leading institution. The NCTM is the only national-level medical center in China dedicated to trauma medicine. The Center is led by Professor Jiang Baoguo, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Professor Wang Tianbing, Vice President of Peking University People's Hospital and Executive Dean of its Tongzhou Campus, serves as Deputy Director.
The NCTM is a nationally leading institution in clinical care, education, research, and healthcare administration, playing a central role in the development of China's trauma care network. It is organized through four specialized committees focusing on organ protection, craniocerebral trauma, medical quality control, and education and training. It undertakes a broad range of nationally mandated responsibilities, including coordination of regional referral for critically ill patients, emergency medical response to major incidents, support for primary healthcare institutions, professional education and training for medical personnel, promotion of healthcare reform, integration of prevention and treatment across all levels of care, integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, advancement of applied health research and innovation, upholding public welfare and regulatory compliance, and execution of national health missions.
At the clinical level, the Center is based at the Tongzhou Campus of Peking University People's Hospital. It brings together 14 core trauma departments, including emergency surgery, trauma resuscitation, dedicated trauma ward, and intensive care units, and is supported by 13 affiliated specialties, such as cardiac surgery, burns, plastic surgery, and obstetrics & gynecology. This multidisciplinary structure enables rapid patient assessment and resuscitation, with the capacity to initiate interventional procedures or damage control surgery within one hour, supported by a comprehensive system for life support and rehabilitation.
In education and training, the Center facilitated the establishment of "Trauma Medicine" as a formal subspecialty under the discipline of Surgery at Peking University Health Science Center in October 2021. It led the development of the national specialist training framework and launched China's first Standardized Training Base for Trauma Medicine Specialists at Peking University People's Hospital in September 2024. Through its advanced China Trauma Care Training (CTCT‑A) program, NCTM has provided training to more than 30,000 trauma care professionals nationwide.
Research is anchored at the Trauma Treatment and Neural Regeneration Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, where a severe trauma animal platform has been established. This platform encompasses experimental models of hemorrhagic shock, brain injury, visceral trauma, limb ischemia-reperfusion injury, pulmonary injury, and rib fractures. It provides a robust scientific foundation for the innovation in life-support systems and core treatment technologies for patients with severe trauma.
In public emergency response, the Center leverages its dual status as a National Emergency Medical Rescue Base and a National Aviation Medical Rescue Base, enabling effective transition between routine and emergency operations. It has deployed medical teams during the COVID-19 response in Hubei Province, provided healthcare support for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and established an emergency coordination mechanism with the military. To date, the Center has completed more than 30 national-level rescue missions.
At the systems level, the Center drives the national trauma care network through the China Alliance for Trauma Care. This work is supported by a self-developed real-time national trauma information system, and guided by the "One-Two-Three Project" framework proposed by Academician Jiang Baoguo. In this way, the Center has established an integrated four-tier trauma care service system spanning national, provincial, municipal, and county levels.
In international collaboration, the NCTM initiated the International Alliance for Trauma Care to share the "China Model" of trauma care. Based at the Tongzhou Campus of Peking University People’s Hospital, it also hosts the China–SCO Emergency Medical Cooperation Center, promoting multilateral collaboration and professional communication in emergency medicine with Belt and Road countries.
The establishment of the NCTM represents an important milestone in the development of China’s trauma care system. Serving as a national hub, it facilitates the coordinated regional allocation of high-quality trauma medical resources and enhances trauma care capacity across the country.