Dr. Zhao earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Lund University, Sweden, and has authored over 100 publications on gastrointestinal pharmacology. She is recognized for her groundbreaking discovery that denervation suppresses gastric tumorigenesis (doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3009569), a landmark finding that helped establish the emerging field of Cancer Neuroscience. She has held top-level researcher and professor positions at NTNU and is a lifetime member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab, DKNVS).