Prof. WANG Jiguang Received Zhong Nanshan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award

03/02/2021

National Accolade for Young Scientist

Prof. WANG Jiguang Received Zhong Nanshan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award

Prof. Wang Jiguang is the only awardee from Hong Kong among the 10 inaugural recipients of the prestigious Zhong Nanshan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award. [Download Photo]

Prof. WANG Jiguang, Division of Life Science and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, received the Zhong Nanshan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award (鍾南山青年科技創新獎). The honor is bestowed upon individuals who demonstrate outstanding contributions in the fields of medicine and life science.

The award and its fund, newly established in 2020, aim to cultivate innovation and technology talents and foster innovative development in the areas of medicine and life science, as well as promote public health and epidemic prevention. The award is presented annually to no more than 10 Chinese youths under the age of 38. In its inaugural year, Prof. Wang is the only recipient from Hong Kong among the 10 awardees.

Prof. Wang obtained his PhD in Applied Mathematics from the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University, where he developed TEDG, a computational method that reconstructs the evolution history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In 2015, he was named as an Irving Institute Precision Medicine Fellow and promoted to Associate Research Scientist of the department. He joined HKUST as an Assistant Professor in 2016.

Prof. Wang has been focusing on the study of computational biology and precision medicine of glioblastoma. His current interests also include the research of applying machine learning and data science technologies to biology and medicine.

Prior to the current award, he also clinched the prestigious accolade of Excellent Young Scientist in 2019 by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Internally, received the School of Engineering Young Investigator Research Award 2018-19. His papers were published on top journals including Nature, Cell, Nature Genetics and Nature Communications.