SinoUnited Health rekindles hope for patients worldwide

When Dale first heard the word "lymphoma", his world changed overnight.

"I kept asking myself: why me? Why is this happening?" he recalled.

It was 2023. Dale was 55 and preparing for retirement, when abdominal pain and severe bleeding sent him to the emergency room. There, a biopsy delivered the diagnosis: Stage IV diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The mass inside him was nearly 20 cm wide, pressing against his ureter, bones, muscles and intestines.

Three rounds of chemotherapy came and went with no improvement. Doctors in New Zealand recommended palliative care as his only remaining option. Refusing to give up, Dale sought alternatives and found CAR-T therapy — an immunotherapy that reprograms a patient's own T-cells to fight cancer — and learned that China had become a major hub for this treatment. His search led him to Shanghai, and to SinoUnited Health's International CAR-T Cell Therapy Center, where a team of specialists began mapping out his treatment. "What impressed me most was that I never felt like just a number," Dale said. "The doctors truly understood my condition and cared about my health as their priority."

Through multidisciplinary collaboration and a personalized treatment plan, Dale underwent T-cell harvesting in July 2024, followed by bridging therapy. By September, he'd received his CAR-T infusion. "By the time I had the infusion, I was already showing signs of being clear of cancer," he said. He returned home to New Zealand, staying closely connected with his care team — and fourteen months later, he came back to Shanghai, this time to speak at the SinoUnited Health International Medical Forum, sharing his recovery with a wider audience.

Dale's experience is not an isolated case. Advances in medical technology and multidisciplinary care, combined with more affordable costs than in many Western countries, are drawing more patients to China for treatment. Shanghai, in particular, has emerged as a center of that shift, one of the country's leading hubs for advanced medical care.

For SinoUnited Health, this journey has been at the heart of its development over the past decade. Founded in 2016 with a single clinic on Nanjing West Road, SinoUnited Health has grown into a healthcare network of one hospital and nine clinics across China's pivotal Yangtze River Delta region. Yet for SinoUnited Health, growth in scale is only part of the story. The true measure of success has always been the trust patients place in them.

This philosophy was demonstrated in another challenging case: a patient in his 80s with a severe hip fracture. The fracture was initially thought to be a routine orthopedic issue, but further examinations revealed significant cardiovascular risks that made surgery highly challenging.

To ensure a safe outcome, specialists in orthopedics, cardiology, general practice and anesthesia, among others, quickly formed a multidisciplinary team. By carefully balancing surgical requirements and the patient's overall condition, the team successfully completed the procedure. Within hours after surgery, the patient was able to stand and walk again, and was discharged about a week later, gradually returning to normal life. His daughter said, "Our whole family has entrusted our health to SinoUnited Health for years, and now we feel even more reassured."

"From the very beginning, our focus has always been on understanding what patients truly need," says Dr Kathy Shi, founder and CEO of SinoUnited Health and president of Shanghai SinoUnited Hospital. "By integrating general practice with specialist expertise and building multidisciplinary teams, we aim to provide more effective, efficient, comprehensive, and compassionate care. This, we believe, is how we earn patients' trust — and that trust is the true measure of our success."

The core of SinoUnited Health's medical capability is its specialists — the knowledge, skill, and experience they bring. Over the past decade, the organization has attracted experienced professionals from top tertiary hospitals in China, along with world‑renowned experts including Professor Ouyang Feifan, Professor Justin Zhu, Professor Shawn Qu, and other international visiting specialists. It also collaborates with globally recognized institutions such as Mayo Clinic, keeping its practices aligned with international standards.

This global benchmark, combined with years of experience serving the region's expatriate community, has steadily drawn overseas patients to SinoUnited Health—people traveling from afar to seek hope for health and well-being. " 'China Innovation in Global Healthcare' is not just a set of concepts; it is becoming reality," said Dr Shi. "We hope to bring high-quality medical services to patients both in China and abroad, and demonstrate China's progress in medical innovation."

Looking ahead, the future of healthcare will be shaped not only by technology, but by pairing innovation with human-centered care. SinoUnited Health is actively embracing this future through advancing AI‑powered diagnostics, precision medicine for targeted treatment, and full-lifecycle management that spans prevention, chronic care, and longevity—as reflected in its newly launched Longevity Clinic. Together with its multidisciplinary expertise and global partnerships, these efforts position SinoUnited Health to deliver personalized care that extends far beyond hospital walls and into daily lives.

A decade marks a milestone, but also a new beginning — an opportunity to reflect on transformed lives and restored hope. SinoUnited Health will keep safeguarding lives through medical innovation, expertise, and an unwavering belief that hope should never be out of reach. Just as Dale seized his second chance in Shanghai, more patients will find theirs in the years to come. At the core of everything lies a simple promise: earn trust through action, heal with compassion, and turn hardship into a fresh start.