On March 28th, Prof. Ning Qin from the Department of Infectious Diseases of Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, received the APASL (the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver) 2024 Lesmana-Sollano Great Mentor Award. This prestigious honor acknowledges her significant contributions to hepatology and her dedication to the education and training of clinical physicians. The award is among the most important accolades in the field of hepatology in the Asia-Pacific region, honoring scientists for their exceptional achievements in hepatological researches and educational endeavors.

“It’s such a joyful surprise,” said Ning Qin. “I was genuinely amazed to learn that I will be honored with the award, especially considering there are many excellent mentors in the Asia-Pacific region. My mentorship experience spanning more than two decades. The award is not only an encouragement, an honor, but also responsibility. I will continue to devote myself to hepatological research and education, cultivate more hepatology talents, and make unremitting efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases across the Asia-Pacific region.”

After returning to Tongji Hospital from the University of Toronto, Canada in 2000, Ning Qin has excelled as  a postgraduate and doctoral supervisor, she has cultivated a group of young scientific research talents. She has been leading her team to actively engage in international academic exchanges. She delivered lectures at numerous international and domestic academic conferences sharing the latest scientific research results and knowledge. Her original scientific research and achievements in hepatology have earned high recognition from her international peers.

In recent years, Prof. Ning Qin has dedicated her expertise to the clinical and scientific research of infectious diseases, with a particular focus on the clinical cure of chronic hepatitis B and treatment of end-stage liver diseases. Under her leadership, her team has published more than 300 papers in domestic and international SCI-indexed journals, accumulating over 14000 citations. She has also actively engaged in international cooperation, working towards standardizing and enhancing the scientific rigor in the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases in the Asia-Pacific region. A series of randomized controlled trials and real-world studies on novel multi-target combination therapy have been successfully implemented for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) leading to a significant improvement of the clinical cure rate. These studies have provided high-quality evidence that has been integrated in the guidelines for the prevention and treatment of CHB. She has explored an important research direction of deep viral inhibition and synergistic immunomodulation against CHB, drawn the first clinical cure road-map of CHB, and taken the lead in formulating expert consensus statements on clinical cure of CHB. Prof. Ning established the Tongji prognostic predictor model (TPPM) for end-stage liver disease of CHB, which has been endorsed by the consensus of APASL. She has led the development of the expert consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of end-stage liver disease complicated with infections, and participated in the formulation of APASL clinical practice guidelines on the management of acute kidney injury in acute-on-chronic liver failure. , She also proposed diagnostic criteria for extrahepatic organ failure of chronic acute-on-liver failure. Prof. Ning established a large clinical cohort of chronic hepatitis B concurrent with fatty liver disease, in which she and colleagues revealed that severe fatty liver disease and increased  metabolic syndrome factors were associated with the early occurrence of cirrhosis in CHB patients with normal ALT who did not undergo antiviral therapy. Prof. Ning's research has demonstrated that antiviral therapy can significantly reduce the risk of late-stage liver fibrosis in the special populations with CHB concurrent with fatty liver disease, additionally, obesity does not affect the efficacy of antiviral treatment. She serves as the chief editor of Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Hepatitis B-Basic Research and Clinical Management” in Chinese version, which is included in the National Key Publishing Planning Projects for the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”. The English version of this work jionted published by Springer and the University worldwide is recognized as the first comprehensive international monograph focusing on the topic of acute exacerbation of chronic hepatitis B.

Written by: Han Mingyang

Edited by: Cheng Yifang, Chang Wen, Peng Yumeng