Fang is Professor of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain, Consultant Anaesthetist and Intensivist.
Fang graduated from Beijing University in China with a degree in Medicine and Surgery. She completed a PhD on pathophysiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) Department of Anaesthesiology, the 1st University Hospital, Beijing University, then started post-doctoral training in the UK with the UK International Fellowship in 1989. Her family was directly affected by the Tiananmen Square incident leading her to stay in the UK.
She trained as Anaesthetist and Intensivist at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, Hammersmith Hospital and Royal Brompton Hospital, London. She completed her MD research project in Hammersmith Hospital on brain injury following cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in 1997. Fang has had an unusual journey to her role as a full time NHS intensive care and anaesthetic consultant at one of the busiest acute hospitals in the UK that has influenced her career and clinical leadership.
She became the only FRCA in the UK from mainland China, created an academic department at the only non-university District General Hospital, was Runner-up for the Asian Women of Achievement Award for the only foreign female Professor in Anaesthesia and is now the only female Chinese NIHR Senior Investigator.
Fang is a leading researcher in critical and perioperative care focusing on clinical effectiveness, influencing policy and decision-making to improve patient care. Her pioneering work on “street fit” led to national and international guidelines for when it is safe to discharge day surgery patients. Her scientific rigour and zeal have played a major role in timely infection control, preventing the progression of severe sepsis and increasing NHS cost-saving in ICU settings. Her seminal clinical trials won 2016 Trials and Evaluation Award Winner, Academic Health Science Network AHSN WM, and contributed to the international guidelines in treatment of sepsis-induced ARDS.
Fang demonstrates significant leadership in her discipline and a passion for mentoring the next generation of clinicians and researchers in the UK and China, several of whom have gone on to leading clinical and academic positions nationally and internationally. Most recently, she has established the Birmingham Acute Care Research group to progress acute care research and developed an MSc in Acute Care Medicine.
In 2021, she was awarded the Dudley Buxton Medal by the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) for her meritorious work in anaesthesia.