Yuet Wai Kan

Yuet Wai Kan 簡悅威
Born	1936 (age 87–88) Hong Kong
Citizenship	United States Canada
Alma mater	University of Hong Kong
Known for	human blood diseases prenatal diagnosis DNA diagnosis DNA polymorphism
Awards	Allan Award (1984) Gairner Int'l Award (1984) Lasker Award (1991) Shaw Prize (2004)
Scientific career
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

Yuet Wai Kan FRS (Chinese: 簡悅威, also written as Yuet-Wai Kan) (born 1936 in Hong Kong), is a Canadian and American medical scientist and physician. 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 School of Medicine. He did his medical training at Queen Mary Hospital, then went to USA for further study.

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.

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 .

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).

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.

Kan discovered DNA polymorphism, which nowadays is widely used in genetic analysis for human diseases.

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 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 500^th 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

• Zhen-yi Wang
• List of graduates of University of Hong Kong