The Department of Hand Surgery of Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology was founded in 1975. It is the earliest established and oldest hand microsurgery specialty in Central and South China, and it is also one of the earliest hand surgery and microsurgery units in the country. More than 200 beds have been opened, and the average annual operation volume and bed utilization rate are among the top three in the hospital. There are 5 chief physicians, 5 associate chief physicians, and more than 20 attending physicians. It has formed special subspecialties including limb salvage and reconstruction of complex trauma and tumor of limbs, limb congenital deformity correction, arthroscopic minimally invasive treatment of wrist/finger joint disease, peripheral nerve injury treatment, refractory wound and ankle deformity, finger defect reconstruction and regeneration and a distinguishing subspecialty of limbs rehabilitation physiotherapy. The academic leader, Professor CHEN Zhenbing, is the current vice president of the Hand surgery branch of the Chinese Medical Association, vice chairman of the Hand surgery branch of the Chinese Medical Association, member of the Chinese Standing Committee of the Asia Pacific reconstruction microsurgery alliance, vice chairman of the Hand surgery society of Central South region, and chairman of the Hand surgery branch of the Hubei Medical Association.

The Department now has 2 doctoral supervisors and 4 master supervisors. Every year, it trains 1-2 doctoral students and 2-4 master students, and receives more than 50 refresher doctors from all over the country. It undertakes the teaching work of standardized training for clinical medical students and residents in Tongji Medical College. Regularly hold new technology classes covering all fields of hand surgery. Every year, it hosts various important academic conferences in China, Central and Southern China and Hubei Province to help doctors at all levels exchange and learn from each other. The department is also the chief editor of many professional books, such as Chinese German Medical Dictionary, Chinese Orthopedics: Hand Surgery Section, Congenital Deformity of Hand, Surgical Treatment of Congenital Deformity of Hand, Complications and Countermeasures of Hand Surgery, Key Points, Difficulties and Countermeasures of Hand Surgery, etc.

The department is committed to promoting clinical research. So far, the Department of Hand Surgery has presided over more than ten projects funded by NSFC, one international cooperation project of the Ministry of science and technology, one national key special subproject and dozens of provincial and ministerial projects. More than hundreds of papers have been published, and dozens of articles have been published in international high-level journals (A-type SCI journals). Many people in the department served as editorial board members of Chinese Journal of Microsurgery, Chinese Journal of Hand Surgery and Chinese Journal of Repair and Reconstruction Surgery.