Aug 27, 2016
Flossie Wong-Staal (b. 1947) is the virologist and molecular biologist who was the first to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes. This was a major step in confirming that HIV is the cause of AIDS.
Born in China, she moved to the United States at 18 to study at UCLA, where she eventually earned a PhD in molecular biology. She went on to do research work at the National Cancer Institute, and in 1985 she completed a mapping of the HIV virus which made it possible to develop tests for it. In 1994 she became the chairman of the newly-founded Center for AIDS Research at the University of California, San Diego.
