A pediatrician by training, Shen rose through the ranks in the health and education bureaucracy of Shanghai.

He successively served as party chief of Pudong and vice minister of education.

He then attended Shanghai Jiaotong University and obtained a doctoral degree in pediatric medicine.

In May 2013, he was named party chief of Pudong, joining the municipal Standing Committee two months later.

[1] On April 8, 2015, he succeeded Ai Baojun to become head administrator of the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone.