Zhao obtained his B.S. in Chemistry at Peking University in 2002 where he carried out his undergraduate research with Prof. Limin Qi on Surface Chemistry. In the same year, he went abroad to Boston College and obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 2008 under the guidance of Prof. Marc L. Snapper and Prof. Amir H. Hoveyda. After that, he had the honor of working with Nobel laureate Prof. Richard R. Schrock at MIT as a postdoctoral associate in the field of organometallic chemistry. In 2011, Zhao was awarded the prestigious NRF fellowship from Singapore and joined Department of Chemistry at NUS as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor of chemistry in July 2017. His research program at NUS mainly focuses on the discovery and development of efficient catalytic methodology to promote sustainable chemical synthesis, and application to medicinal and material sciences.