Chen Wang
President, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College
Director, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases (China)
Dr. Wang has long been engaged in the clinical practice, research and teaching of respiratory medicine and has special expertise in pulmonary embolism, pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failure, pulmonary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD, Chronic Bronchitis Emphysema), new respiratory infectious diseases and tobacco epidemiology. He has contributed many important innovations, including the development of thrombolysis therapy and sequential mechanical ventilation, both of which have been added to international treatment guidelines. He oversees multiple national research projects and international programs.
At the beginning of 2020, an unprecedented outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in China. As a prominent expert on respiratory and critical care medicine, Dr. Wang was selected to serve on a high-level team convened by the National Health Commission to guide the COVID-19 epidemic response in Hubei province. As part of his COVID-19 work, Dr. Wang proposed a novel “Fangcang shelter hospital” approach in Wuhan, which obviated the risk of within-household and community transmission. Fangcang shelter hospitals isolated thousands of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19, provided high-quality medical treatment and care, and fulfilled an important triage function. Evidence suggests that the Fangcang shelter hospitals were a major reason for the successful COVID-19 control in China.
Dr. Wang has published more than 250 articles in authoritative international medical journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet and Annals of Internal Medicine. He has been honored as the winner of the WHO’s Outstanding Contribution Award for Tobacco Control, the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation’s Scientific and Technological Progress Award, and the First Prize (once) and Second Prize (three times) of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
As a former senior administrator of multiple medical institutions—including the Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Beijing Hospital and the China-Japan Friendship Hospital—Dr. Wang made major advances in subject development and hospital management. He also previously worked as the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Health Sciences, Technology and Education of the National Health Commission of P.R. China; in his time presiding over the Department, Dr. Wang promoted medical education and research at the national level.