Flossie Wong Essay

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Flossie Wong-Staal Flossie Wong-Staal is one of the greatest virologists and scientists. She is a leader in an Aids research. She even helped to discover the virus that causes AIDS-HIV and a related virus that causes cancer. She was the first person to map and clone HIV’s genes. She still continues to work on a vaccine to prevent aids and a treatment for those with AIDS Flossie Wong-Staal didn’t always have an interest in science. Flossie Wong-Staal‘s birth name is Yee Ching Wong. Her father changed her name to Flossie when she was enrolled in Catholic school in 1952, Hong Kong. She was born August 27, 1947 in China. When she went to Catholic school in 1952 she needed an English name: her father who spoke no English picked the name Flossie from a newspaper account of Typhoon Flossie. Flossie Wong-Staal was an excellent student in school, especially towards math and science. She was encouraged to study science further. She wasn’t interested in science at first, but when she studied science from a deeper field it fascinated her. She graduated from this school in 1965 and immigrated to the U.S to study at the University of California at Los Angeles where she focused on molecular biology. After earning her bachelor’s degree she attended the University of California at San Diego for postgraduate work in the same field in 1971-1972. Along that same time period she got married, adding Staal to her name, she divorced in 1973. After finishing school, she continued to take charge of her life. She took on a search in the 1980s to isolate the cause of the many illnesses that made up aids. In 1983 she discovered HIV with the help of Robert Gallo. She was the first person in history to clone HIV and its first genetic mapping, in 1985. In 1990 Flossie Wong-Staal left the

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