George Sai Wah Tsao at the core facility of HKU medical school
George Sai Wah Tsao at the core facility of HKU medical school
Prof. Bo Zhao (L), Prof. Elliott Kieff (C) and Prof. George Tsao (R)

GEORGE SAI WAH TSAO, PhD

(10/28/1955 – 12/08/2022)

Submitted by:

Miao Xu, PhD
Professor
State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China
Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
Guangzhou, China

This is a tribute to honor Prof. George Tsao who passed away in 2022.
 
George Sai Wah Tsao, PhD (Chinese: 曹世華) was a professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Hong Kong and the Director of the Faculty Core Facility of the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong. His research has been focused on the relationship between EBV and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. His groundbreaking insights into the establishment of persistent EBV infection in NPC cells and pioneering efforts in establishing NPC cell lines have shaped NPC research. He inspired and helped many researchers, including me, to dive deeper into the studies on how EBV infection promotes NPC tumorigenesis. 
 
George was not only a pioneer in our field but also a remarkably generous and kind-hearted person. He generously shared the NPC cell lines and his expertise with us and guided the younger generation of scientists to engage with the community. His spirit and kindness inspired us to pursue studies on EBV and NPC.
 
George had been trained to be a great scientist at Harvard Medical School. He had lived in Boston for a long time. 
 
Brief Bio:

George Sai Wah Tsao, Ph.D., was a professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences and the Director of the Faculty Core Facility of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong.

Tsao became a faculty member of the Chinese University of Hong Kong after receiving postgraduate training. However, he went to the Harvard Medical School to receive further postdoctoral training in 1987. Later on, he was appointed the Laboratory Director of the Gynecological Oncology Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and assistant professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Harvard Medical School. He joined the University of Hong Kong in 1993, and was a faculty member of the Department of Anatomy and the deputy director of the Center for Cancer Research, the University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine.