The 2022 Award for the March 8 Red Banner Holders, Pacesetters and Collectives was unveiled recently. Prof. FANG Xiangming at the Zhejiang University School of Medicine won the March 8 Red Banner Pacesetter award.

As a healthcare provider, researcher and educator, FANG Xiangming has long been committed to the world’s scientific and technological frontier, the main economic battlefield, major national needs, and people’s well-being. Sepsis has constituted a formidable problem in the medical community for many years. Against this backdrop, the World Health Organization has issued a special appeal to governments to “strengthen the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sepsis as a priority”, but there have still been few effective therapies. After nearly 20 years of research, FANG Xiangming led her team to explore the pathogenesis of sepsis and develop key technologies for perioperative sepsis. The “Development and application of key technologies for early warning and treatment of perioperative sepsis” project won the second prize of the 2019 National Science and Technology Progress Award and the 7^th CMWA Wuzhou Women Science and Technology Award.

FANG Xiangming has dedicated herself to working on the clinical frontline and promoting scientific innovation for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Sepsis patients are usually beset with anesthesia problems, such as unstable circulations, wild fluctuations in blood pressure, poor tissue perfusion, and pulmonary aspiration. She took the lead in proposing a titration protocol for anesthesia induction and a compound anesthesia program, thus realizing the precise anesthesia management ranging from “large circulations” to “microcirculations”. She developed an innovative technique for lateral induction of tracheal intubation to minimize the likelihood that the tongue wouldn’t drop back when muscles loosened due to the use of anesthesia, thereby keeping the airway open and reducing the risk of the inadvertent aspiration of food into the lungs. These innovative technologies have benefited tens of thousands of patients.

FANG Xiangming has supervised 41 doctoral graduates and post-docs, two of whom have been recruited into top-notch talent programs in Guizhou and Guangxi. She founded the Provincial Branch of China Medical Women’s Association with a view to imparting scientific knowledge, exploring the integration of medicine and industry, promoting the development of medical science, providing a platform for academic exchange, independent innovation, and talent support for female medical staff, and adding women’s vigor and wisdom to health science education and grassroots medical support.