Graduated from Peking Union Medical College in 1996 with an 8-year clinical medicine program and obtained a Doctor of Medicine degree. In 2002, obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States. From 2001 to 2007, completed pathology residency and subspecialty training in surgical and gynecologic pathology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States. During this period, studied systematically under world-renowned pathologists Dr. Robert Kurman, Dr. Jonathan Epstein, and Dr. Ralph Hruban in gynecologic pathology, genitourinary pathology, and pancreatic pathology. In 2007, served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the United States, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012. Professor Cao returned to China full-time from 2011 to 2014 to serve as Director, Professor, Chief Physician, Doctoral Supervisor, and Director of the Pathology Teaching and Research Section of the Department of Pathology at Peking University Cancer Hospital. He led the Department of Pathology at Peking University Cancer Hospital to obtain the 2013 National Clinical Key Specialty designation. From August 2014 to July 2015, served as Deputy Director and Chief Physician (Professor) of the Department of Pathology at Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. In August 2015, returned to the Department of Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, was promoted to Full Professor in July 2018, and was named an Outstanding Teacher of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for the 2017-2018 academic year. In October 2020, assumed the position of Chief Pathology Expert at Shanghai Kangwan Pathology Diagnosis Center. In February 2024, assumed the position of Director of the Department of Pathology at Renji Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Professor Cao Dengfeng is engaged in the clinical practice, scientific research, and teaching of obstetric and gynecologic pathology and surgical pathology. He has high attainments in tumor pathology and is particularly skilled in obstetric and gynecologic pathology, genitourinary system pathology, and pancreatic pathology. In 2009, Professor Cao discovered that SALL4 is the most sensitive germ cell tumor marker. He has published more than 110 SCI papers, and his papers have been cited more than 9,500 times. Invited by the World Health Organization, Professor Cao Dengfeng participated in the compilation of the 2014 fourth edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of Female Reproductive Organs and the 2016 fourth edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of the Urinary System and Male Genital Organs, and served as a World Health Organization core expert for these two classifications. He also participated in the compilation of the 2020 fifth edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of the Female Genital Tract.