On Mar 29, 2018, academician George Fu Gao from Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has received Russian Gamaleya Medal at the First Sino-Russian Symposium on Infectious Diseases. Gamaleya Medal is awarded by Gamaleya National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia, in recognition of the outstanding scientists in the public health and epidemiology field. Professor Yunde Hou, 2017 Highest Science and Technology Award winner, from National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention and professor Yiming Shao, China's leading AIDS scientist, from China CDC, were awarded at the same time.

The Gamaleya Medal recognizes professor Gao for his remarkable contribution to fighting infectious diseases and developing Sino-Russian cooperation in the field of disease control. Professor Gao has been endeavoring himself into researches on interspecies transmission of animal-borne viral pathogens, T cell immunity and global public health strategy. He has been awarded the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Medical Prize in 2012 and Nikkei Asia Prize (Japan) in 2014. Until now, he has published more than 490 peer-reviewed scientific papers.