On the afternoon of September 11, 2025, “The Mental Health PUCI Forum & 90th Anniversary Ceremony of the Shanghai Mental Health Center (SMHC)” were grandly held at the Zhangjiang Science Hall. Centered on the theme “Build a New Ecosystem for Psychiatric Services, Lead the Way on the Journey Toward a Healthy China,” the forum brought together leading national experts, academic authorities, and distinguished guests from across the mental-health spectrum to celebrate SMHC’s 90-year journey and to open a new chapter for its future development.
The event was opened by Prof. Zhao Min, President of SMHC and Director of the National Medical Center for Mental Disorders. She retraced the center’s glorious evolution from the Mercy Hospital founded in 1935 to its present status as a dual-campus, nationally designated medical center, thanking the municipal government, supervising departments, partner institutions, and all staff for their unwavering support.
In his welcome address, Mr. Xiao Junjie, Secretary of the CPC SMHC Committee, emphasized the hospital’s enduring commitment to advancing public awareness and service delivery in mental health. He pledged that SMHC will continue to strengthen its public-service mission and meet citizens’ growing psychological needs with more professional, higher-quality care.
More congratulatory speeches followed from Prof. Fan Xianqun, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering & President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Mr. Zhao Dandan, Director of Shanghai Shenkang Hospital Development Center, and Prof. Lu Lin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Chair of the Psychiatry Branch of the Chinese Medical Association. The leaders reviewed from different perspective SMHC’s benchmark role in building China’s mental-health service system and praised its 90-year record of innovation in research, clinical care, and education. They agreed that mental health is a key pillar of the Healthy China strategy, calling for stronger policy guidance, academic innovation, and talent cultivation. SMHC, they urged, should continue to leverage its leading and demonstration role as a national medical center to offer a replicable “Shanghai model” for the national mental health care.
On site, SMHC answered the call of the “Year of Pediatric and Mental Health Services (2025-2027)” action plan jointly issued by the National Health Commission and other ministries. Together with leaders from China’s top psychiatric institutions, including Prof. Lu Lin, Prof. Zhao Min, Prof. Wang Gaohua, Prof. Xie Bin, Mr. Fu Qiang, Prof. Yue Weihua , Prof. Wang Xiaoping, Mr. Xiao Junjie, and Prof. Wang Gang, SMHC issued a nationwide initiative to improve patients’ sense of gain, expand and upgrade mental-health resources, enhance service quality and efficiency, and elevate the psychological literacy of the entire population. The release of the initiative demonstrated the field’s responsive sense of duty to the national strategy, and the responsibility and commitment of mental health workers.
We also invited Dr. Potenza Marc Nicholas, from the Steven M. Southwick Professor of Psychiatry, Child Study and Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine, He gave us a presentation on the topic of Neurocognitive function in behavioral and substance addictions: Transitions and treatments.
Art for Healing, Culture for the Soul. Renowned painter Mr. Wang Jiafang, council member of the China Artists Association and National First-Class Artist, donated a 7-metre-wide monumental landscape painting to SMHC’s new medical building. Bridging art and medicine, the gift embodies the center’s philosophy of “Cultivating people through culture, nurturing hearts through aesthetics.”
Ms. Liu Lu, director of the documentary “It’s Just Bad Emotions, That’s All Right,” and Dr. Wang Yong, Director of SMHC’s Outpatient Department, shared behind-the-scenes stories. Filmed at SMHC over a full year, the series won the Best Documentary Series at the 30th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards. Its unflinching yet hopeful portrayal of patients and caregivers moved the audience and sparked deep empathy.
Culture is the soul and pillar of a hospital. During the ceremony, SMHC inaugurated its Cultural Development Committee and launched a “Hospital Culture Big Discussion.” Eight interdisciplinary experts, including Wang Jiafang, Kong Xiangdong, and Gu Mei, were appointed to infuse multiple perspectives into a cultural system rich in warmth and humanistic care.
In a touching moment, Prof. Wang Zucheng, former president of SMHC, presented historic artifacts to Director Zhao Min, symbolizing the enduring transmission of the center’s legacy.
90 years have witnessed the unceasing mission of mental health. Standing at a new starting line, SMHC reaffirms its role as “gatekeeper of the nation’s mental health” under the national strategy. Mental health is not only about medical advances but also about deepening humanistic care. Rooted in the national strategy and social needs, SMHC will continue to propel China’s mental-health service system toward more specialized, human-centered, and systematic high-quality development.
