China's chief epidemiologists and anti-COVID czar dies at age 60

China's chief epidemiologists and anti-COVID czar dies at age 60

Staff Writer, Dateliehealth Africa

October 30, 2024. China’s chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou, who helped drive anti-COVID-19 measures in the nation of 1.426 billion, that suspended access to cities and confined millions to their homes for months has died on Friday, October 27, 2023 at age 60.

He passed away at a Beijing hospital after battling pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed during the pandemic. He was the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

Wu was born in Huangshan, Anhui Province, in June 1963. He attended Anhui Medical University, where he obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in the Department of Health. After graduating in 1988, he began working at the Anhui Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  

He pursued further education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he obtained a master's degree in Public Health from 1991 to 1992 and a doctoral degree in Epidemiology from 1992 to 1995. 

Wu returned to China after completing his PhD and focused on the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. He also played a role in the prevention and control of the SARS outbreak in 2003. In 2005, Wu became the director of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention at China CDC. In April 2017, he was appointed as the chief expert in epidemiology at China CDC.

A notice from China’s CDC says that there will be no formal body farewell ceremony, and that Wu’s funeral arrangements will be kept simple, as per his wishes.

Learn more about Dr. Wu Zunyou

Published: October 30, 2023

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