Curriculum Vitae - Edison T. Liu

• Executive Director, Genome Institute of Singapore (Biomedical Sciences Institutes)
• Professor of Medicine, National University of Singapore
  Special Advisor to the Vice Chancellor, National University of Singapore
• Director, Singapore Cancer Syndicate

Edison Liu was born in Hong Kong, China, and emigrated to the United States in 1957. He received his bachelor's degree (Phi Beta Kappa) in chemistry and psychology from Stanford University where he remained to complete his M.D. in 1978. This was followed by internship and residency in internal medicine at Washington University, St. Louis, and clinical cancer fellowships at Stanford University (Oncology), and at the University of California at San Francisco (Hematology). He then pursued post-doctoral studies as a Damon-Runyan Cancer Research Fellow at the University of California at San Francisco in the laboratory of Dr. J. Michael Bishop identifying transforming genes in human leukemic states. In 1987 when he joined the faculty of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, he developed programs in leukemia and breast cancer research centering on molecular epidemiology and cell signaling.

At UNC, Dr. Liu held faculty appointments in medicine, biochemistry, epidemiology, and genetics, and was director of UNC's Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer. From 1993 until 1996, Dr. Liu was leader of the Breast Cancer Program at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and co-founder of the Breast Care Center at UNC. In 1995, he was appointed Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, UNC. In 1996, he joined the NCI as the Director of the Division of Clinical Sciences. In this capacity, he was responsible for the scientific and administrative direction for the intramural clinical research arm of the NCI comprised of over 100 principal investigators, 400 trainees, and 1,200 employees.

In 2001, Dr. Liu assumed the position of Executive Director, Genome Institute of Singapore which is a flagship programme of the Biomedical Sciences Initiative of Singapore. At the GIS, he is building an international research institute of 300 individuals focused on integrating genomic sciences with cell and medical biology. His scientific investigations have spanned molecular epidemiology to molecular biochemistry of human oncogenes. His current scientific research investigates the dynamics of whole genome gene transcription that explains biological states in cancer. Dr. Liu has contributed over 190 articles, reviews, and book chapters to the scientific literature. Dr. Liu also is the executive director of the Singapore Cancer Syndicate, a governmental funding agency supporting clinical translational cancer research, and the Managing Director of the Singapore Tissue Network, the national tissue repository in Singapore.

In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Liu serves in many advisory roles in the Singaporean government, in corporate scientific advisory boards, on editorial boards, and in international bodies. Specifically, he served as chair of the General Motors Cancer Research Mott Awards Committee and its general assembly and was elected to the Board of Governors for the American Association of Cancer Research. In Singapore, he is the Senior Advisor to the President of the National University of Singapore, chair of the National Health Group Strategic Committee for Clinical Research, member of Singapore’s Bioethics Advisory Committee, Ministerial committee to revaluate Singapore’s secondary school system (Ministry of Education), Biomedical Sciences Executive Committee, A*STAR, and the University Autonomy, Governance, and Funding Steering Committee (MOE).

Dr. Liu has received a number of awards including the Leukemia Society Scholar (1991-1996), the Brinker International Award for basic science research in Breast Cancer (1996), the Rosenthal Award from the American Association for Cancer Research for his work in elucidating the importance of the HER-2 gene as a predictive marker for breast cancer adjuvant therapy (2000). Dr. Liu was recently the recipient of the President’s Public Service Medal for his work in helping Singapore resolve the SARS crisis.