Professor Gao studied in the Department of Chemistry, Peking University for his bachelor’s degree (1981-1985), master’s degree (1985-1988) and doctoral degree (1988-1991). After 1988, he worked in the former Department of Chemistry and the current College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Peking University, as a teaching assistant, lecturer (1990), associate professor (1992), and professor (1999). From 1995 to 1997, he was a Humboldt research fellow at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at RWTH Aachen in Germany. From 1998 to 1999, he worked as a Croucher visiting scholar at the University of Hong Kong for collaborative research. In 2011, he was a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. Professor Gao was elected an academician of the Division of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK in 2007. In 2013, he was elected an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World. His main research interests are coordination chemistry and molecular magnetism. In 2013, he received the Science and Technology Progress Award from Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation. He has won three second-class National Natural Science Awards, respectively in 2006 (as the first person-in-charge), 2011 (as the fourth person-in-charge), and 2019 (as the second person-in-charge).

Professor Gao has served successively as Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee (June 2000 - April 2002), Associate Dean (April 2002 - May 2006), and Dean (May 2006 - November 2010) of the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Peking University. He was appointed a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee of Peking University in June 2012. From April 2013 to September 2013, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee and Provost of Peking University. From September 2013 to March 2015, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee, Vice President and Provost of Peking University. From March 2015 to October 2017, he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee, Vice President, Provost, and Dean of the Graduate School of Peking University. From October 2017 to April 2018, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee, Vice President and Provost of Peking University. From April to October, 2018, he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee, Executive Vice President and Provost of Peking University. Since June 2016, Professor Gao has held a concurrent post as the Vice Chairman of the 9th and 10th National Committees of the China Association for Science and Technology. From September 2018 to July 2022, he was Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of South China University of Technology.

In November 2021, Professor Gao was appointed as Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of Sun Yat-sen University.