He currently serves as the Director of the Academic Committee of the Institute of Microbiologyof CAS, the Director of the Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microorganisms and Immunology, theChairman of the Chinese Society of Biotechonology, and the Vice President of the Chinese MedicaAssociation. He has previously held positions as the Deputy Director of the National NaturalScience Foundation of China and the Director-General of Chinese Centre for Disease Control andPrevention, the Dean of the Cunji Medical College of the University of the CAS, and the Director ofnstitute of Microbiology of CAS.
He is the discoverer of the novel coronavirus and pioneered the development of the world'sfirst clinically approved neutralizing antibody drug and the first approved recombinant proteinsubunit vaccine for COVID-19. His main research interests include the cross-species transmissionof pathogenic microorganisms, infection mechanisms and host cell immunity, antiviral strategiesas well as public health policy and global health research. He has made great contributions to theprevention and control of emerging infectious diseases.