Zhong Nanshan, Head of China's COVID-19 Expert Team

Zhong Nanshan is director of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and a leading Chinese expert in preventing and treating respiratory infectious diseases.

During the outbreak of SARS in 2003, Zhong led a group of scientists to explore effective prevention and treatment measures. His team was the first to formulate a set of standards for clinical diagnosis of SARS, which was recognized by the WHO experts as significantly valuable for the global combat against SARS. Guangdong province, where Zhong worked, was one of the SARS-hit areas with the highest cure rate and the lowest mortality rate in the world.

When the novel coronavirus epidemic broke out in early 2020, the 84-year-old Zhong returned to the battlefield and was appointed to head both China's COVID-19 Expert Team and the High-level Expert Group of the NHC. After his field trip to Wuhan, he warned in a TV interview that there was a phenomenon of human-to-human transmission for the novel coronavirus. During the outbreak, Zhong educated the public about the virus, updated them on the trend of the epidemic as well as relative drug R&D. He also led his team to focus on curing severe cases, critically ill cases and cases with complex diseases. He is hailed by the Chinese people as a "national idol" and a "one-of-a-kind talent."

鐘南山：新冠肺炎疫情科研攻關專家組組長

鐘南山，中國國家呼吸系統疾病臨床醫學研究中心主任，中國工程院院士，中國防治呼吸道傳染病的領軍人。2003年，面對非典疫情，鐘南山帶領課題組在全世界率先探索出了一套富有明顯療效的防治經驗，最早制定出《非典型肺炎臨床診斷標準》，被世界衛生組織專家組認為對全世界抗擊非典型肺炎具有指導意義。他所在的廣東成為全球非典病人治愈率最高、死亡率最低的地區之一。

2020年新冠肺炎疫情爆發，84歲的鐘南山再度“出山”，出任新冠肺炎疫情聯防聯控工作機制科研攻關專家組組長、國家衛生健康委高級別專家組組長。在赴武漢進行調研考察后，他接受電視采訪，指出新冠病毒存在人傳人的現象。疫情期間，鐘南山向公眾普及新冠病毒信息、疫情防控情況、藥物研發進展，帶領團隊重點攻關重癥、危重癥和疑難病人診治，被普遍贊譽為“全民偶像”“國士無雙”。