Professor Hu Qinghua is a distinguished expert in infectious disease prevention and food safety research. She serves as the Chair of the Microecology Committee Chair, Shenzhen Preventive Medicine Association. Specializing in molecular diagnostics of microorganisms, bacterial antibiotic resistance, bacterial genomic epidemiology, and wastewater epidemiology, Professor Hu has spearheaded over 20 national, provincial, and municipal research initiatives, including the National Science and Technology Major Project, National Key R&D Program sub-projects, National Natural Science Foundation of China grants, and Shenzhen Technology Tackling/Sustainable Development Projects.
Recognised for her scientific excellence, she has received nine prestigious awards, including the Second Prize of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association for Preventive Medicine Technology, the Second Prize of Chinese Medical Science and Technology, and the First Prize of Shenzhen Science and Technology Progress. Her impactful innovations include two technology transfers, contributions to a national standard, and 12 Chinese national invention patents.
With over 100 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals like Nature Microbiology, Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Professor Hu’s work bridges cutting-edge research and public health practice, fostering global health resilience.
As China’s most densely populated megacity and a major international port, Shenzhen persistently confronts significant challenges from emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats. In response, the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has implemented and integrated One Health surveillance system, encompassing clinical, veterinary, and environmental monitoring components. The environmental surveillance framework features a citywide wastewater surveillance network for tracking infectious disease prevalence. Complementing this system, a two-tiered municipal and district pathogen identification center has been established, incorporating ten advanced technological platforms to enable comprehensive pathogen detection and characterisation. This multi-layered framework facilitates early detection, rapid source tracing, and precise risk prediction of infectious diseases.
Notable achievements include:
1) Pioneering public health indices in China, beginning with the Influenza Index in 2016 and subsequently expanding to include risk assessments for hand-foot-mouth disease, norovirus gastroenteritis, and dengue fever;
2) Elucidating the transmission dynamics of critical pathogens through systematic epidemiological investigations;
3) Developing COVID-19 risk prediction models that accurately forecasted the magnitude and temporal progression of initial outbreak waves, informed by comprehensive outbreak surveillance and field epidemiological parameter analyses.
This integrated system has demonstrated operational effectiveness in managing multiple public health emergencies, including SARS-CoV-2, avian influenza, and emerging Escherichia coli strains.
