After graduating in 1983, he entered the graduate school of
Beijing Agricultural University, where he earned a master's degree in
microbiology and
veterinary epidemiology in 1986.[4] This enabled him to change his career direction to infectious disease research, and he joined the faculty of the university as a teaching assistant and later lecturer in
virology.[3]
Education and career abroad
In 1991, Gao went to the United Kingdom to study at
Oxford University, where he earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1994 under the supervision of David H. L. Bishop and Ernest A. Gould.[4] After a three-month stint at the
University of Calgary in Canada, he returned to Oxford as a
postdoctoral researcher, working under John I. Bell,
Andrew McMichael and Bent K. Jakobsen.[4]
In 1999, Gao moved to
Harvard Medical School as a Wellcome Trust International Travelling Fellow and conducted research under
Don Craig Wiley and
Stephen C. Harrison until 2001. From 2001 to 2004, Gao taught at Oxford University, serving as a lecturer, doctoral supervisor, and group leader.[4]
Career in China
After 13 years abroad, Gao returned to China in 2004 to serve as Professor and Director of the Institute of Microbiology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).[3] In 2008 he was appointed Vice President of Beijing Institutes of Life Science and Director of the National Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microorganism and Immunology of the CAS. He has also been an
adjunct professor at Oxford since 2010.[4]
In 2020, Gao contributed to research on
SARS-CoV-2.[9]
Contributions
Gao's main research focus is on the mechanism of
viral entry and release, especially the
cross-species transmission (host jump) of the
influenza virus. He also studies
viral ecology, including the ecology of the flu virus in migratory birds and poultry markets.[10] He was the first to describe the cross-species transmission mechanism of the
H5N1 avian flu virus.[11]
Gao's research also involves public and global health policy. During the peak of the
2014 Ebola outbreak, he spent two months leading the China Mobile Test Laboratory in
Sierra Leone from September to November, playing a role that is described by the US
National Academy of Sciences as "heroic" in fighting the epidemic.[10]
As of 2019, Gao has published 20 books or book chapters and over 500 peer-reviewed research papers,[10] including those on newly discovered pathogenic viruses such as the
SARS virus and the
H7N9 avian flu virus.[11]