In Memoriam: A tribute to the late Professor Huahao Shen, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China. January 4, 1963 to April 16, 2024.
The GINA community joins with colleagues worldwide to mark the passing of one of the giants of respiratory medicine in China, Professor Huahao Shen after a long illness. Professor Shen was the Director of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the Second Affiliated Hospital of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Director of the Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Zhejiang University, and Director of the Key Laboratory of Diagnosis, Treatment and Research of Respiratory Diseases of the Zhejiang Province. Professor Shen’s leadership in the Chinese Medical Association was as Vice-Chairman of the Respiratory Branch and Chair of the Asthma Group and of the Asthma and Allergy Working Committee of the Chinese Association of Chest Physicians. He also served as Chair of the Respiratory Committee of the Cross-Straits Medical and Health Exchange Group. Among his honorific awards was as Changjiang Scholar in the Zhejiang Province.
Throughout his career, first in Guangzhou under the mentorship of Professor Nanshan Zhong, Professor Shen championed the adoption of evidence-based asthma guidelines and played a leading role in the development of the Chinese Asthma Guidelines. He was a strong supporter of GINA guidelines and sought to align and promote local practice in accordance with these. Among his unique scientific contributions was extensive research on Cough Variant Asthma, and Chest Tightness Variant Asthma, commonly seen in China, and in 2013, he established the Chest Tightness Variant Asthma Education and Awareness Activities programme to educate Chinese physicians on the diagnosis and management of these conditions, for which he received special recognition from the Chinese Medical Association in 2023.
Professor Shen is remembered for his professional competence and scientific achievements; but also as a man of generous spirit, warm-heartedness and sense of humour who sought to build bridges of collaboration, not only within China, but globally with colleagues with similar interests in improving the care of patients with asthma.