Bin Cao, MD

Dr. Bin Cao, M.D., Chief Physician, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Vice President of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Director of the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (PCCM), Deputy Director of the National Respiratory Medical Center, Vice Director of the Institute of Respiratory Medicine at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and New Cornerstone Investigator. He holds the distinguished title of Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor and is a recipient of the Distinguished Young Scientist Fund by National Science Foundation of China. Dr. Cao is a distinguished physician-scientist and a leading authority in respiratory medicine both in China and internationally. His research primarily focuses on respiratory infections, with particular emphasis on emerging respiratory viruses. Dr. Cao established the first nationwide pneumonia research network in China (CAP-China), which was pivotal in demonstrating that viral pneumonia accounts for 39.2% of adult hospitalizations for pneumonia in China. He was the first researcher globally to characterize the clinical features of COVID-19, providing critical insights that have informed clinical management worldwide. Dr. Cao developed internationally recognized endpoints for assessing the efficacy of antiviral interventions in viral pneumonia, notably the “7-level scale” and the “11 core symptoms” indicators, addressing the urgent need for standardized criteria in evaluating antiviral drug efficacy. Dr. Cao led the world’s inaugural clinical trial for COVID-19 therapeutics, conclusively demonstrating the ineffectiveness of lopinavir/ritonavir treatment and thus preventing unnecessary revisions to global COVID-19 treatment guidelines. His subsequent research validated the clinical efficacy of simnotrelvir in treating COVID-19, contributing to the availability of affordable antiviral medications worldwide. He introduced the novel concept of “Respiratory Viral Sepsis,” extending the traditional framework of sepsis to viral respiratory infections. Additionally, Dr. Cao identified four distinct biological recovery patterns in long COVID, offering new avenues for early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention. Dr. Cao has authored over 220 peer-reviewed original articles and reviews, including 11 seminal publications in premier journals such as The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Nature Medicine. His work has been cited over 140,000 times according to Google Scholar. Recognized as one of the “Highly Cited Chinese Researchers” by Elsevier for seven consecutive years, he has also led or contributed to the development of 11 national clinical guidelines and consensus statements and edited 10 authoritative medical monographs.