Margaret A. Liu

She is a founder of the field of DNA-based vaccines, and studies both plasmid DNA and mRNA vaccine technologies. She was the first researcher to provide evidence that gene-based immunization could protect against infectious diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis, HPV, and HIV. In addition to her work with animal models, she was involved with the first trial of a gene-based influenza vaccine in humans. In 2002, Discover magazine recognized Liu as one of the 50 most important women in science.

Early life and education

Margaret's parents immigrated to the US from China for graduate school, and her mother moved her and her siblings to Durango, Colorado, after her father's death when Margaret was 4. They were one of the three Chinese families in the town. Growing up, Margaret's family struggled financially due to her father's death and racial prejudice making it hard for her mother to get jobs, despite her extensive education and qualifications. However, Margaret's childhood was a happy one, full of love from her mother and compassion for others. The support of her mother and the fairly diverse demographics of Durango inspired her to take risks in her career and life. She attended Durango High School, and also took advanced classes at Fort Lewis College starting at the age of 13. Even early in her education, she showed promise: her teachers recall that they knew that she was "going places". She graduated as Co-Valedictorian of the Class of 1973. She was a U.S. Presidential Scholar and received a Boettcher Scholarship, which fully funded her college degree. She turned down acceptances to Yale University and Princeton University, in part because of the scholarship providing a full ride to a college in Colorado.

She earned a B.A. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, at Colorado College. At Colorado College she discovered Biochemistry and Immunology, and also pursued her musical interests and played the flute for a woodwind quartet called the "Keytones" or the "Ketones". She completed her requirements and graduated a year early. She received a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation to study piano at a conservatory in Paris. She earned a Diplome d'Enseignement in piano from the École Normale de Musique de Paris.

She later obtained a Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed her internship and residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. She also completed a fellowship in endocrinology at Harvard. She became board certified in internal medicine and endocrinology and metabolism. While at Massachusetts General Hospital, she met her future husband, Robert Johnson, whom she married in 1983. She decided to keep her last name for professional reasons and because she thought that her race would surprise people if her name was Margaret Johnson.