Dr Hong Tang, recipient of the China National Natural Science Foundation Award for Distinguished Young Scholars, is a Clinical Professor and Director of the Center of Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University. Dr Tang received her MD and PhD from West China University of Medical Sciences, and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Cell Biology, Scripps Research Institute, USA; and a further fellowship at the Department of Molecular Biology, Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Japan. She currently serves as vice chairperson of the Chinese Society of Infectious Diseases; vice chairperson of the Chinese Physician Association for Infectious Diseases; and chairperson of the Hepatology Society, Sichuan Medical Association (SMA). As a principal investigator, she has received more than 20 Chinese National grants in the field of infectious diseases focusing on the molecular biology, pathogenic mechanism and clinical management of HBV and HCV infections; she has also been responsible for more than 40 multicentre clinical trials studying the efficacy and safety of anti-HBV and anti-HCV drugs. She has published more than 100 articles and reviews (mainly in the field of viral hepatitis) in international journals including Hepatology, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA and J Virol.