The Department of Plastic Surgery of Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology is one of the earliest professional organizations of aesthetic and plastic surgery in China, leading the development of aesthetic and plastic surgery in central and southern China. The current chair of the department, Professor SUN Jiaming, is the academic leader of plastic surgery, the expert in stem cells and tissue engineering, the chief physician, the national second-level professor, and the doctoral supervisor.

The treatment of the department covers the four major directions: Surface Organ Repair and Reconstruction, Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery, Laser Treatment, and Injection Cosmetic. It has formed a superior plastic surgery diagnosis and treatment project which majors in Breast Plastic Surgery, Craniomaxillofacial Plastic Surgery, Body Surface Tumor Treatment, Rhinoplasty, Otoplasty, Body Contouring and Abdominoplasty, Injection Cosmetic, Liposuction Plastic Surgery, Facial Rhytidectomy, Scar Revision, Laser Treatment, Perineum plastic, Cleft Lip and Palate Plastic Surgery, Hemangioma Treatment, and Body Surface Organ Reconstruction.

The department is the training base for plastic surgery specialists of the National Health Commission, a national key clinical specialty, a base of master's and doctoral degree program of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a vice-chair unit of the society of Plastic Surgery of Chinese Medical Association, a deputy chair unit of the society of Plastic Surgery of Chinese Research Hospital Association, and has many provincial-level societies chair units. The Plastic Surgery Department ranked fifth in the country in the overall ranking of Chinese hospitals in 2019. Among all these hospitals, the standard value of scientific research of the Plastic Surgery Department of Union Hospital ranked third among the whole country, and the overall strength of the specialty has consistently ranked first in Central China.

The department is the first batch of GCP clinical drug test bases for plastic surgery in the country and has a total number of 23 projects which have been completed or under research. In recent years, scientific research projects including National Natural Foundations, Transverse projects, Provincial projects, and College projects have been obtained. The department has the chief editors and chief translators of more than 20 plastic surgery professional books, for example, Breast Plastic Surgery, Flap and Reconstructive Surgery, Autologous Fat Transplantation, Facial Beauty Technology and so on. The published SCI papers reached a total impact factor of more than 200. Since the establishment of the department, it has recruited and trained nearly 100 residents and M.D. graduates and more than 500 clinical fellows.