Cao Ronggui was born in December 1938 in Shandong Province. He graduated in 1964 from the Department of Stomatology at Beijing Medical College (now part of Peking University Health Science Center). After graduation, he remained at the institution and served from 1964 to 1972 as secretary of the Communist Youth League committee. Between 1972 and 1982, he worked at the affiliated stomatological hospital, where he successively served as Party branch secretary and deputy Party committee secretary.[2]
From 1982 to 1984, Cao was appointed president of the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Beijing Medical College. In September 1984, he transferred to the Ministry of Health, serving as deputy director general of the Department of Planning and Finance. He was later appointed deputy director of the General Office of the Ministry in March 1988, and promoted to director of the General Office in January 1989, a position he held until November 1995. During this period, he also concurrently served as director of the Ministry's Administrative Services Bureau beginning in 1992.[3]
In December 1995, Cao was appointed vice minister of health, serving in that capacity until May 2000. After leaving ministerial office, he became president of the Chinese Hospital Association in 2001 and held the post until 2011, after which he was named honorary president of the association. He has also served as honorary president of the Chinese Association for Health Promotion since 2007, president of the third council of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, and president of the third council of the China Endemic Disease Association.[4][5]