Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, every school day The Cardinal will feature a prominent and historical Asian American or Pacific Islander, living or dead, who has worked toward change, advancement, and/or world peace. Some of them are heroes, and some are unsung heroes, who deserve recognition, and have made a contribution to society.

Helen Nguyen, Staff Writer

May 22, 2026

Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal stands as an unsung hero whose work saved millions of lives. Born Yee Ching Wong in Guangzhou, China in 1947, she immigrated to Hong Kong with her family after the Communist Revolution. She moved to the U.S. for college, earning her PhD in molecular biology from UCLA in 1972. Adopting the name “Flossie” from a childhood nickname, she entered a field where few women, and even fewer Asian women, were leading research labs.

Dr. Wong-Staal joined the National Cancer Institute in 1973 and became a pioneer in retrovirology. In 1985, she led the team that became the first to clone HIV and completely map its genes. This was the breakthrough that made HIV blood tests possible. Before her work, there was no reliable way to screen blood donations, and transfusions that were spreading the virus. Her genetic map of HIV also proved that the virus was the cause of AIDS, ending years of scientific debate and giving researchers a target for treatment.

Her contributions didn’t stop in the lab. Dr. Wong-Staal recognized that discoveries only matter if they reach patients. In 1990, she left the NCI to help lead biotech research at UC San Diego, focusing on gene therapy for HIV. She later co-founded Immusol, a company dedicated to turning AIDS research into real drugs and vaccines. Over her career she published over 400 scientific papers and was ranked as the top woman scientist of the 1980s by the Institute for Scientific Information.

Though she passed away in 2020, Dr. Wong-Staal’s impact is everywhere. Every HIV test, every antiretroviral drug, and every step toward a cure builds on her work. While other scientists became public faces of the AIDS crisis, Dr. Wong-Staal stayed in the lab, driven by data instead of recognition. Her legacy is proof that quiet, relentless science can change the world. As a Chinese American immigrant who broke barriers in both gender and race, she showed that innovation has no single face and that the people doing the most important work are often the ones you’ve never heard of.

About the Contributor

Helen Nguyen, Staff Writer

Helen is a 16-year old junior attending Hoover High School. She has a strong passion to attend a community college and a 4-year university to pursue a nursing career. Some of her goals for this year are to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA by the end of this school year, stay on top of her classes, don’t procrastinate, and to stay motivated. Knowing her junior year is one of the most important years during high school, she is determined to put in her best efforts. A few things she enjoys doing are listening to music, you’ll almost always find her having her airpods in, hanging out with friends, and going out with family. While being born and raised here in San Diego, she is the only one in her family to not be born in Vietnam. This summer, after seven years, she went to visit some family and stayed for about a month. Mostly for paperwork because her uncle is set to come to the US in 2027. Other than having gone to Vietnam, she has also traveled to Virginia for close relatives, though, that was only once. After high school, she plans on attending San Diego Miramar community college to take prep courses for professions and general experience then transferring to a university, CSU San Bernardino. She has interests in nursing because she believes she can do good for others, she enjoys helping those in need, to have the chance to make a positive impact, and because with nursing, it provides meaningful work and growth opportunities.