Education

B.S., Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University (1966‐1967)

B.S., Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University (1967‐ 1970)

M.S., Institute of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, National Taiwan University (1970‐1972)

Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry, University of Tennessee (1972‐1976)

Professional Experience

Post‐doctoral, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine Georgetown University (1975‐1979)

Consultant, BRL Company, Bethesda, Maryland, USA (1978‐1979)

Associate Professor, Department and Institute of Biochemistry, National Yang‐ Ming Medical College (1979‐1985)

Acting Chairman, Institute of Biochemistry, National Yang‐Ming Medical College (1984‐1986)

Professor, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Yang‐Ming University (1985‐2011)

Chairman, Institute of Biochemistry, National Yang‐Ming University (1986‐ 1991;1994‐1997)

Dean, Academic Affairs, National Yang‐Ming University (1999‐2001)

Acting President, National Yang‐Ming University (2000‐2001, 2009.11‐2010.7) President, National Yang‐Ming University (2001‐2009)

Distinguished Chair Professor, National Yang‐Ming University (2007‐2011) Acting Chancellor, University System of Taiwan (2008‐2012)

Advisor, Yuan Science and Technology (2010‐2011)

Board Member, NHRI (2010‐2012, 2013‐2014)

Board Member, ITRI (2011‐2016)

Board Member, NARL (2012‐2013)

Board Member, Chung‐Shan Institute of Science & Technology (2014‐2017) Advisor, NARL, The White Paper on Science and Technology: A Preliminary Study (2015‐2018)

Specialties

Biochemistry, Microbiology, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Molecular Virology

On the Path of Learning

 Dr. Yan-Hwa Wu was born in 1948 in Chia-Yi. Her father worked in Huwei Sugar Mill, was one of the students who studied University in Japan. He was strict in his children’s education, and Dr. Wu did not disappoint him – from the top high school in Gaoshung all the way to National Taiwan University. She studied agronomy at first and transferred to Agricultural Chemistry.

During her time in Agricultural Chemistry, Dr. Wu’s younger sister was studying pharmacy, which implanted the interest of medical in her. Being influenced, Dr. Yan-Hwa Wu started her devotion in Biochemistry and Molecular virology.

 

On the Path of Research

 Laboratories have been Dr. Yan-Hwa Wu’s another home since her early years. She said that doing research is sometimes tedious and tough, however she has always been very motivated and enjoying for the past decades.

  A postgraduate said that Dr. Wu is always punctual – showing up in the lab everyday in eight. She works in the office from half eight and checks on the students in lab at noon. After her work, she stays in the lab, reading periodical thesis, preparing materials for class. She usually gets home at midnight.

   Molecular virology is not a popular subject. Initially, she studied Hepatitis B, as well as Streptomyces for a while, and then she became famous of the research of Hepatitis C.

Her postgraduate team has discovered the ribonucleoprotein in C-virus is able to inhibit the activity and cloning of B-virus. This answered the question of pathogenicity. If it integrates with the studies of human genes, and clarify the relationship between chromosomes, virus infection, food, chemicals…etc., will definitely create a more complete answer.

 

Teaching career

 Dr. Wu is considered the most innovative, extremely responsible, and enthusiastic teacher.

She believes that due to the rapid progress in society, there are way more temptations outside the world, comparing to the last generation. Which means that less people can tolerate the dullness in laboratory. Therefore the teacher’s strategy is important to lead the students to discover the enjoyableness in knowledge and studies.

 

Her Family

 Dr. Yan-Hwa Wu admitted that completely devoted to academic works means neglected to her family. “I feel very sorry to my husband.” Her husband is the Chemical Industry professor of National Tsing Hua University. They met and married in the United States, and both returned and devoted to their “motherland”. They teach in different counties therefore can only meet each other during the weekends. Their son was raised by Dr. Wu’s mother and is current studying material sciences.

 

Her Goal

 Being elected as an academian, she claimed, “It’s not just about experiments from now on.” She believed that she has the responsibility to help youths in the country and create a better environment for research. She would like to be the bridge between national universities and Academia Sinica, promoting the collaboration between international postgraduate students, combining people and equipment, and accelerate the standard of Taiwan’s research quality.