Professor Chen Zhao

Prof. Chen Zhao graduated from Peking University School of Medicine in 1997 and obtained his MD. and PhD. from Tianjin Medical University in 2007.  

Prof. Chen Zhao has been engaged in ophthalmological clinical, teaching, and scientific research for 27 years. He was selected for the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China and Excellent Young Scholars of China (Awarded by NSFC), Yangtze Fund Scholars (2018-2023, 2023-2028), National "The Thousand Talents Plan" Special Professor，The Thousand Young Talents Plan (Awarded by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC) et al. 

He has been focused on understanding the pathogenic mechanisms and interventions for retinal degenerative diseases, hereditary retinal disorders, pediatric ophthalmic diseases, and ocular motor function. He has been particular interested in the study of hereditary retinal degenerations (HRDs) and been working on the discovery of new disease-causing genes of IRDs, to reveal key pathogenesis and interactions among retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), photoreceptors and retinal vasculature among such conditions.  

Prof. Chen Zhao has published over 120 papers in JCI (2 papers), Circulation, PNAS（3 papers）, Am J Hum Genet, STTT, Genet Med, Genome Res, Cell Rep, Nat Commun, and other journals. He has won the Dean’s Fellowship (Awarded by Stanford University School of Medicine), the second prize of China Medical Association Award (R1), the Youth Science and Technology Outstanding Contribution Award of Shanghai, First Prize of Shanghai Medical Science and Technology Award (R1), the Shanghai Science and Technology Elite Nomination Award, the first prize of Tianjin Science and Technology Progress (R2), and the first prize of Jiangsu Youth Science and Technology Award. As the project leader, he has finished over 20 projects including National Natural Science Foundation of China. As the first inventor and patent holder, he obtained over 10 national invention patents.