International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Yongxiang ZHAO

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 2020, Professor Yongxiang Zhao is a Chinese physician and cancer researcher whose career has focused on biologically targeted diagnosis and treatment, particularly the discovery of tumour targets and targeting molecules and the development of new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumours. Born in Shishou, Hubei Province, in 1965, he received his medical degree from the Xiangya School of Medicine of Central South University in 1988, followed by master’s and doctoral degrees in surgery and cardiothoracic surgery from Xiangya Hospital and the Second Xiangya Hospital. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral research in Germany and the United States, including at the University of Regensburg, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Returning to China in 2003, he directed transplant-medicine research centres at Central South University and later served as Vice President of the Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University. Since 2009, he has been Vice President, Professor, and Chief Physician at Guangxi Medical University, with a concurrent appointment at Sun Yat-sen University from 2017 to 2018. He is now Director of the State Key Laboratory of Targeted Oncology and the National International Joint Research Centre for Biological Targeted Diagnosis and Treatment. He has also held leadership positions in the China Anti-Cancer Association, China Medicinal Biotech Association, Guangxi Immunology Society, and Chinese Society for Immunology. His honours include the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Scientific and Technological Innovation, the Guangxi Highest Science and Technology Award, and the Outstanding Achievement Award for the Development of Chinese Pharmacy.

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Professor Zhao’s research has centred on biologically targeted cancer diagnosis and therapy, with liver cancer as a major disease model. His team has investigated tumour-associated targets and targeting molecules and developed approaches for both in-vitro and in-vivo biologically targeted diagnosis and treatment. A major line of his work has been the development of targeted therapeutic systems combining tumour-associated targets, targeting molecules, and tumour vasculature to improve the localisation of anti-tumour effects and facilitate treatment monitoring. He has also investigated therapeutic strategies based on immune responses to tumour cells, including the use of genetically modified oncolytic viruses to stimulate targeted anti-tumour immunity. His research has included the development of a gene-edited non-human primate model of liver cancer and the clinical investigation of the oncolytic virus NDV-GT. In 2025, his team reported in Cell results from an interventional clinical study of intravenous oncolytic-virus therapy in patients with refractory advanced cancers, providing clinical data for further evaluation of this therapeutic approach. Professor Zhao has led more than 30 national research projects, including projects under the National Science and Technology Major Project for the Creation of New Drugs, and holds more than 40 authorised national invention patents together with international patent applications. He has published more than 180 SCI-indexed papers as corresponding author in journals including Nature Biotechnology, Cell, and Advanced Materials. His research has received national and regional scientific awards, including the First Prize of the Ministry of Education Natural Science Award and the China Patent Excellence Award. He has also contributed to the development of biomedical research and education in western China and has trained more than 100 postdoctoral researchers and graduate students. Through sustained work spanning tumour-target discovery, targeted therapy, clinical translation, and scientific training, Professor Zhao has contributed to the development of targeted oncology and translational cancer research in China.