In 2010, Shan started her bachelor's degree at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, and at the same time, she studied for a second degree in business administration at Wuhan University. Shan started her doctoral studies at Tsinghua University in 2015, focusing on research on infectious diseases and the immune system.

"I liked animals like dogs and cats when I was a kid, so I chose to study veterinary medicine for my bachelor's degree," Shan says. "While studying vaccines for pets, I found my interest in immunology."

On the night of Jan 15, 2020, Zhang announced that they would be studying the novel coronavirus at Tsinghua University-the team had previously been successful with studies of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Ebola.

Shan signed up for it right away and took only a one-day trip back home in Yuncheng, Shanxi province, before Spring Festival to see her sick grandmother and returned to the lab the next day.

"As a medical researcher, I felt obliged to help in any possible way," she says.

She was initially apprehensive that she might disappoint her parents by deciding to return to campus right before the festival. To her surprise, her parents encouraged her to help the nation fight the outbreak.