Zhejiang University’s latest appointment shows how Chinese universities are competing for world‑class researchers. The school announced that Fengyi Wan, formerly a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has returned to China to take a chair professorship in Hangzhou.

Zhejiang University is ranked third in mainland China in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, behind Tsinghua and Peking. The high ranking helps the university attract leading scholars from abroad.

Wan’s work linking brief intestinal infections to a higher risk of colon cancer in mice earned him the 2023 Shikani/El‑Hibri Prize for Discovery and Innovation. His laboratory also secured more than US$4.7 million in NIH research grants between 2011 and 2025, underscoring his strong research track record.

The university’s recruitment drive does not stop with Wan. Earlier this year it hired former Johns Hopkins professor Jiang Qian, mathematician Fanghua Lin from NYU, former Purdue chemistry head Jianguo Mei, and former NIH investigator Kai Ge, all as chair professors or institute leaders.

These high‑profile hires illustrate Zhejiang University’s strategy of strengthening its research profile by attracting award‑winning scientists from abroad. The growing roster of international talent signals the school’s ambition to become a global research hub.