The Department of Rheumatology and Immunology at Nanfang Hospital is a National Regional Rheumatology (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Diagnosis and Treatment Center, a Key Clinical Specialty Construction Unit of Guangdong Province, a High-Level Key Discipline of Traditional Chinese Medicine under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the Chair Unit of the National Regional Diagnosis and Treatment Center Alliance for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in Rheumatology, and a Standing Member Unit of the Rheumatology and Immunology Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association. Since the 1980s, under the care of leaders at the First Military Medical University, the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Nanfang Hospital, senior experts pioneered rheumatology diagnosis and treatment in China. Adhering to inheritance and innovation, Nanfang Hospital established the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology in 2007 and the Rheumatology (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Diagnosis and Treatment Center in 2019. To strengthen the discipline of rheumatology, the department underwent integrated development approved by the Nanfang Hospital Party Committee in 2023. The department has now become a clinical discipline integrating medical care, teaching, and research, with a focus on diagnosing and treating complex and critical rheumatic diseases and featuring integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine. It serves as a model rheumatology diagnosis and treatment unit in South China. Currently, the department operates 71 beds (including 6 beds for traditional Chinese medicine-specific treatments), with 20 physicians (70% holding doctoral degrees), 9 senior professional titles, 6 overseas-trained professionals, 2 doctoral supervisors, 6 master's supervisors, and a nursing team of 24. The annual outpatient volume exceeds 80,000 visits, with over 3,000 inpatients discharged annually. The department has trained over 100 master's/doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as over 30 visiting scholars. It has developed and refined diagnosis and treatment protocols and clinical pathways for rheumatic diseases using Western medicine and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, which have been promoted and implemented regionally. Leveraging the advantages of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, the department has established a multidisciplinary team (MDT) for complex rheumatic diseases and implemented over 30 distinctive traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnostic and treatment projects, including joint ultrasound, osteoporosis treatment beds, joint therapy devices, and ultrasound-guided drug delivery systems. It comprehensively applies functional exercises such as Baduanjin and Tai Chi into treatment plans and has developed and utilized hospital-prepared traditional Chinese medicine formulations such as Guling Pills and Xiaowugui Granules, continuously improving the capacity to treat complex and critical patients in South China. The department undertakes multi-level teaching tasks for undergraduate students (including eight-year, five-year, and full-time international student programs), traditional Chinese medicine programs (including the renowned veteran Chinese medicine practitioner inheritance class), integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine programs, as well as master's/doctoral students, standardized residency training students, and visiting scholars. Course content covers *Internal Medicine*, *Clinical Diagnostics*, *Infection and Defense*, *Internal Medicine II*, *Clinical Diagnosis*, *Internal Medicine of Traditional Chinese Medicine*, *Clinical Application of Classical Prescriptions*, and *Advances in Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine*. To date, the department has trained over 100 master's/doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as over 30 visiting scholars. Doctoral graduates from the department have been recognized as high-level talents and outstanding young scholars at Southern Medical University. The department team has undertaken over 70 research projects, including key projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, with total funding exceeding 30 million RMB. As a clinical trial base for new drugs approved by the National Medical Products Administration, the department has led or participated in over 70 clinical research projects. It has published over 300 academic papers, including over 100 SCI-indexed papers in renowned journals such as *Nature Medicine*, *Cell Host & Microbe*, *Cell Metabolism*, and *Nature Cell Biology*. The department has received five national and provincial/ministerial science and technology awards or progress awards, obtained five authorized invention patents, edited or co-edited 30 monographs, and led or participated in the development of over 10 authoritative international/domestic guidelines and expert consensus statements on rheumatic diseases.