Yufen Zhao, born in 1948 in Qixian, Henan Province, graduated from the Department of Chemistry at National Tsing Hua University (Hsinchu) in 1971. She earned her Ph.D. from Stony Brook University, State University of New York in 1975 and conducted postdoctoral research at the same university and New York University. In 1979, she returned to China and was appointed as an associate researcher at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), later promoted to full researcher. In 1988, she joined Tsinghua University as a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Chemistry. She was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991. In 2000, she was appointed as a professor at the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University. Currently, she serves as the Dean and Professor of the Institute of Drug Discovery Technology at Ningbo University, Director of the Qian Xuesen Collaborative Research Center of Astrochemistryand SpaceLife Sciences, and Dean of the Xinjiang Jujube Industry Development Research Institute. She has published over 600 papers in international academic journals such as the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal of Organic Chemistry, and Chemical Communications, authored eight monographs, and obtained 51 authorized national invention patents, along with one patent each from the United States, Germany, and Japan, and two drug certifications. Her accolades include the China Young Scientist Award, the Ministry of Education's National Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Supervisor Award, the title of "Second New Century Female Inventor," the Ministry of Science and Technology's "Top Ten Outstanding Cross-Century Talents" award, and the Science and Technology Progress Awards from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education. In 2015, she received the International Arbuzov Award in the field of organophosphorus chemistry, the Lu Jiaxi Chemistry Prize in 2017, and the Nanqiang Outstanding Contribution Award in 2019. She also served as the Chair of the 14th International Conference on the Origin of Life in 2005, the Chair of the 17th International Conference on Phosphorus Chemistry in 2007, and the Honorary Chair of the 24th International Conference on Phosphorus Chemistry. |
