Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memory Hospital (KCGMH) was founded in 1986 and has been growing from professionalism to excellence over 30 years. There are more than 6,000 employees, 81 specialties and sub-specialties, and 2,691 beds, with about 7,600 outpatient and 371 emergency services per day in the hospital. It is accredited as an outstanding medical center by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, responsible for the tasks of tertiary health care, medical training and translational research. The hospital implements patient-centered and employee-based medical care, emphasizes inter-disciplinary integration, and constructs a safe, humanized environment for the protection of patients’ rights. Through efficient management and innovative medical technology, the hospital provided a high-quality patient care and staff working environment.
The area for medical research covers more than 13,000 square meters in the hospital. In addition to the Human Biobank, there are also one research institute (Institute for Translational Research in Biomedicine), two scientific research centers (Center for Shockwave Medicine and Tissue Engineering and Center of Mitochondrial Medicine), nine core laboratories/research platforms (Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratory, Stem Cell Core Laboratory, Phenomics and Diagnostics Core Laboratory, Tissue Bank, Biostatistics Laboratory, Laboratory Animal Center, Clinical Trial Center, Microbial Center, and Biomedical Sciences Core Laboratory) and fourteen laboratories with specific research themes to provide a complete research environment. The hospital not only has outstanding research results in immunology, regeneration medicine, cardiovascular medicine, liver transplantation, neuroscience, shock wave medicine, menopause and reproductive medicine, mitochondria, etc., but also continues to actively expand the research fields, implement clinical applications, and create new research opportunities.
The Human Biobank of KCGMH was established in accordance with the "Management Regulations on Human Biobank" of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, to provide the hospital with reliable and legal specimens of human source and systematic clinical data for medical research. The main biological specimens are frozen tissue and blood samples. As of 2020, the number of the Human Biobank participants has reached 9,756. Most of the disease types are neoplasm-related diseases, of which liver specimens are the most, followed by colorectal specimens. In addition, under the policy of Chang Gung Medical Foundation, the core laboratory has constructed a number of research facilities, including automated nucleic acid extraction, slide scanner, laser microdissection system, and other instruments for relevant medical research to facilitate the development of biomedicine in the hospital.
In addition, after joining the "National Biobank Consortium of Taiwan (NBCT)", the Human Biobank in KCGMH starts to perform frozen section for sample confirmation to promote the overall specimen quality and reliability, and to provide the applicant of NBCT with coded sample and clinical information with the participants’ consent. By the optimization of the overall sample quality and the service to a wider range of researchers, it is hoped that the Human Biobank in KCGMH can facilitate multi-centered research to improve people's health and well-being in the future.