[1] Gao is of Han ethnicity and is originally from an administrative county of Cangzhou, in Hebei province.
[citation needed] Gao commenced work in 1967 and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1978.
[1] Gao worked in a variety of economics posts within the CCP, including under the Ministry of Finance.
In 2001 he became the assistant secretary to the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the director of an office under it.
On April 27, 2005, he was made the acting minister of health after the departure of Wu Yi.