Senior Members

Prof Yuet-Wai Kan is an internationally renowned pioneer of human genetics.  He was the first Chinese to be elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society.  In 2004, he was awarded the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine for his discoveries on DNA polymorphism and the influence on human genetics.

Prof Kan obtained his MB,BS from The University of Hong Kong in 1958.  In 1960, he went to Boston and later to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Montreal to undertake further research training in hematology.   Since 1972, he has joined the faculty of medicine in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and is currently the Louis K. Diamond Professor of Hematology of UCSF.  In 1980, he was awarded DSc from The University of Hong Kong.

Prof Kan was the first scientist to discover that a single DNA mutation could result in a human disease.  He was also the first scientist to apply DNA testing to diagnose human diseases.  He discovered DNA polymorphism, which has now been extensively used in genetic analysis.

In recognition of Prof Kan’s research output over the years and his tremendous contributions to the field of medicine, he was elected as members to many learned societies such as:

2013 Fellow, the American Association for Cancer Research
2011 Member, Institute of Medicine
2009 Member, American Philosophical Society
2006 Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America
2004 Shaw Foundation Prize in Life Science and Medicine
1996 Foreign Member, The Chinese Academy of Sciences
1995 Helmut Horten Research Award, Switzerland
1991 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award
1989 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, Harvard Medical School
1988 Member, Academia Sinica of Taiwan
1988 American College of Physicians Research Award
1987 Waterford Award in Biomedical Sciences
1986 Member, National Academy of Sciences
1984 Gairdner International Award, Canada
1984 Allan Award, American Society of Human Genetics
1981 Fellow of the Royal Society
1980 Stratton Award, International Society of Haematology
1980 George Thorn Award, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
1979 Dameshek Award, American Society of Hematology

In 1990, Prof Kan was elected as the President of American Society of Hematology.  From 1997-2011, he was the chairman of the Croucher Foundation in Hong Kong.

Website of Prof Yuet-Wai Kan at University of California, San Francisco

December 2021