Yuet Wai Kan
| Yuet Wai Kan 簡悅威 |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 11 June 1936 Hong Kong |
| Citizenship | United States Canada |
| Fields | human genetics Medicine |
| Institutions | University of Hong Kong Queen Mary Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital University of Pittsburgh MIT McGill University Penn Children's Hospital Boston Harvard Medical School San Francisco General Hospital HHMI UCSF |
| Alma mater | University of Hong Kong |
| Known for | human blood diseases prenatal diagnosis DNA diagnosis DNA polymorphism |
| Notable awards | Allan Award (1984) Gairner Int'l Award (1984) Lasker Award (1991) Shaw Prize (2004) |
Yuet Wai Kan FRS (Chinese: 簡悅威, also written as Yuet-Wai Kan) (born 11 June 1936), is a Canadian and American medical scientist and physician.[1] He is the current Louis K. Diamond Professor of Hematology and the head of the Division of Molecular Medicine and Diagnostics at the University of California, San Francisco. He is the former President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
Biography
Kan was born in Hong Kong in 1936. His brother, Sir Yuet Keung Kan, was the Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council and Executive Council of Hong Kong.
Kan graduated with an M.B.B.S. (in 1958) and M.D. (in 1980) both from the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Medicine. He undertook his medical training at Queen Mary Hospital, then went to USA for further study.[2]
Since 1976, Kan has been a research investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Kan served as the president of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in 1990.
Kan is currently a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Kan also sits on both the Board of Adjudicators and the Selection Committee for Life Science and Medicine which chooses winners of the Shaw Prize.
Research
Kan is regarded as a pioneer of applying molecular biology and genetics into clinical medicine. Kan was the first to establish that a single DNA mutation could lead to a human disease, and the first to diagnose a human disease by using DNA.[3]
Kan has made many fundamental contributions to our understanding of human blood diseases. Kan was the first to discover the gene deletion in human alpha-thalassemia; he was the first to discover a point-mutation causing human beta-thalassemia; with Golbus' help, he was the first to carry out prenatal diagnosis (for a haemoglobinopathy).[4]
Kan is best known for his groundbreaking works in sickle cell and thalassemia. He is the first person who used fetal DNA diagnosis techniques to study these diseases. Kan's work led to the innovation of DNA diagnosis.[5]
Kan discovered DNA polymorphism, which nowadays is widely used in genetic analysis for human diseases.[6]
Honors and awards
- Fellow, Royal College of Physicians
- Fellow, Royal Society of London (1981 election)
- Member, United States National Academy of Sciences (1986 election)
- Member, Academia Sinica (1988 election)
- Member, Third World Academy of Sciences (1988 election)
- Foreign member, Chinese Academy of Sciences (1996[7] election)
- William Dameshek Prize (1979) from ASH
- Stratton Medal (1980) from International Society of Hematology
- George Thorn Award (1980), from Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- William Allan Award (1984), from American Society of Human Genetics
- Gairdner Foundation International Award (1984)
- Lita Annenberg Hazen Award for Excellence in Clinical Research (1984)
- Waterford Biomedical Science Award (1987)
- American College of Physicians Research Award (1988)
- Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (1989), from Harvard Medical School
- Sanremo International Award for Genetic Research (1989, Italy)
- Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research (1991)
- City of Medicine Award (1992)
- Christopher Columbus Discovery Award in Biomedical Research (1992), given on the 500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America
- Excellence 2000 Award (1993)
- Federation of Canadian Chinese Professionals Award (1994)
- Helmut Horten Foundation Research Award (1995, Switzerland)
- Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine (2004)
See also
References
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- ↑ UCSF News Office: UCSF genetics pioneer Y.W. Kan earns Lifetime Achievement Award
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- ↑ United States National Academies - Yuet Wai Kan, CHR Member at the Wayback Machine (archived November 9, 2008)
- ↑ American Society of Hematology: Legend -> Yuet Wai Kan at the Wayback Machine (archived September 22, 2008)
- ↑ Hong Kong was transferred to P.R.China on 1 Jul 1997, and officially became Hong Kong SAR
- Pages with reference errors
- Articles containing Chinese-language text
- 1936 births
- Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
- American medical academics
- American medical researchers
- American geneticists
- American people of Hong Kong descent
- American physicians
- Canadian emigrants to the United States
- Canadian geneticists
- Canadian medical academics
- Canadian medical researchers
- Canadian physicians
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Foreign Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Hong Kong emigrants to Canada
- Howard Hughes Medical Investigators
- Living people
- Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
- Naturalized citizens of Canada
- University of California, San Francisco faculty
