Chen Zhu added a new string to his bow when he entered the world of politics as China's newly appointed health minister. The appointment was approved by the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress on June 29. Chen, without a party affiliation, is only the second person in 35 years to hold a ministerial position who is not a member of the ruling Communist Party of China. The first, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang, took post in April.

Chen, 54, a molecular biologist, was born into a well-known doctors' family in south China's Jiangsu Province. He obtained his Master's degree in hematology in Shanghai, and a Doctorate in medical sciences at Saint-Louis Hospital University, France. During his tenure at the Shanghai Institute of Hematology since 1989, Chen led his team in the study of the pathogenesis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), and proposed arsenic trioxide in the treatment of APL, which has been recognized as an effective therapy for leukemia worldwide. In an ambitious move related to the study of human genes, in 1998 Chen constructed China's first human genome research center of state level in Shanghai. With the completion of genomic DNA and cDNA identification, mapping, cloning, sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, China's study of the human genome and life science has been greatly improved. Chen was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1995, and in 2000, his political career became apparent after his promotion to vice president of CAS, taking major charge of international cooperation and biotech research work. Chen's competence in management and coordination has been recognized since then, with the establishment of a biomedicine research institute in Guangzhou, a biomass energy base in Tianjin, and the Shanghai National Life Science Institute under his leadership.

Chen's growing concern of public health and medical care problems of public interests has helped him to voice his opinion on many occasions. Chen, along with other renowned medical experts, has called for the establishment of a new public healthcare system, under which the government, individuals and medical institutions are included, after the scare of the SARS epidemic. His openness and novel multi-dimensional proposals have won him many admirers.

Chen is the first non-French winner of Prix de l'Qise by La Legue Nationale contre le Cancer of France. He is also an academician of the French Academy of Sciences and the United States National Academy of Sciences.