Dr. Hu Hailin was born in Dongyang, Jinhua, Zhejiang province. She received her Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and molecular biology from Peking University (1996), a doctorate at the University of California, Berkley (2002), and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia. In 2008, Dr. Hu returned to China, joined the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai, and became the principal investigator of the Hu Lab. She later joined the Medical School of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou in 2015 and became the executive director of the Center for Neuroscience at Zhejiang University School of Medicine. She received the 2022 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women In Science International Award for her research on the neurobiology of depression. Her findings include identifying the impact of ketamine on the lateral habenula (LHb) that becomes highly active in those suffering from depression, providing a framework for developing new rapid-acting antidepressants. She once noted that she became interested in neuroscience after reading "From Neuron to Brain" by Steve Kuffler and John Nicholls as an undergraduate.