Birth: August 27, 1947
Death: July 8, 2020
Specialty: Virology, Molecular Biology
Major Contributions:
First to clone HIV
Genetically mapped HIV, leading to blood test for the virus
Former chair, UCSD Center for AIDS Research
Image: National Cancer Institute
Born in China in 1947, Flossie Wong-Staal excelled in school from an early age and her teachers persuaded her to study in the U.S. for college. They also encouraged her father to change her given name, Yee Ching, to something that would make it easier for her to transition to a life in the U.S. He chose her new name from a typhoon that had recently struck the area.
While she was encouraged to study science, Wong-Staal said she was not initially interested in it but grew to love it over time. She came to America to study at the University of California at Los Angeles when she turned 18, earning a bachelor’s degree in bacteriology.
In 1972 she completed her PhD in molecular biology, also from UCLA. She then started her post-doctoral research at UC San Diego, and in 1974 she moved to the National Cancer Institute where she began her work on retroviruses. In 1983, this research led Wong-Staal and a team of scientists at NCI to discover that the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, was the cause of AIDS at the same time as a French scientist had the same findings.
Wong-Staal continued this line of research, and in 1985 she was the first scientist to clone the virus and contributed to genetically mapping it. This work was the basis to allow for the creation of blood tests for HIV. She also did research that helped contribute to new treatments for HIV/AIDS patients before returning to UCSD in 1990, shortly after having been named the top woman scientist of the 1980’s by the Institute for Scientific Information.
In 1994, she became the chairman of the school’s Center for AIDS Research and focused her research on gene therapy. She retired from the school in 2002 but held the title professor emerita. That year, she was named one of the fifty most extraordinary women scientists by Discover magazine and in 2007 the Daily Telegraph listed her as #32 on their ranking of Top 100 Living Geniuses.
Inducted to the National Women’s Hall of fame in 2019, Dr. Wong-Staal passed away in 2020.
Written by Mary Ratliff
Sources:
Mothers of innovation: Five mothers who have transformed global health
Bookrags: Flossie Wong-Staal Biography
In Memoriam: Flossie Wong-Staal, Ph.D.
Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal Oral History 1997
Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal, a Worthy Namesake for Our Talented Critter
See Also:
UCLA Alumni: Flossie Wong-Staal ’68, PH.D. ’72
Hellar Reviews: Flossie Wong-Staal