Over the past 60 years, the department of neurology has gradually formed a number of clinical sub-specialties with their own characteristics through the unremitting efforts of several generations. The department focuses on the precise diagnosis of neuroimmunology, neurodegeneration, genetic defects, and dysmetabolism, and it investigates their molecular pathomechanism. Boasting one of the national key clinical specialties, the department contribute significantly to the investigation of mechanism and treatment in lipid storage myopathy. We proved firstly that the majority of Chinese patients with riboflavin responsive lipid storage myopathy are caused by a mild type of multiple acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency which is due to ETFDH gene mutation.

Moreover, the department has been leading nationally in fields such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and movement disorders, and cerebrovascular diseases and rare neurological diseases.

The Department of Neurology has set up the neuropathology laboratory in 1985, conducting the diagnosis and molecular pathological analysis by biopsies from the brain, peripheral nerves, and muscles.

The department of Neurology is not only skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of neurologic diseases, but also excellent in the training of talent teams. They have trained a large number of high-quality medical talents. Since 1954, The Department of Neurology is responsible for the teaching of undergraduate students, interns and interns. In 1955 they began to undertake the teaching tasks of affiliated nursing schools. 1978, Department of Neurology is approved by the State Council for the first batch of master's degree awarding units, as a doctorate awarding body in 2006. In 2010, Department of Neurology was selected as the key subject of Shandong University 985 Project. There are currently 7 doctoral tutors and 16 Master graduate tutors. So far more than 100 doctoral students and more than 300 graduate students have been trained.

The Department of Neurology has been concentrating on the development driven by scientific and technological innovation, striving to create a first-class medical research platform, constantly developing and breaking through. The department has undertaken more than 20 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and more than 40 projects at the provincial and ministerial levels. They have won more than 40 awards, including the Shandong Science and Technology Progress Award, the Provincial Health Department Science and Technology Progress Award, and the Shandong University Outstanding Achievement Awardands. The department is very research active. More than 20 academic papers in domestic and foreign medical journals were published each year, and several papers have been published in high-impact journals, such as The Lancet, Acta Neuropathologica, Annals of Neurology, Neurology, et al.