Biography

World renowned biochemist, geneticist and immunologist, Professor Mak Tak Wah is Professor at the Department of Medical Biophysics and the Department of Immunology of the University of Toronto. Born in southern China in 1946, Dr Mak grew up in Hong Kong and studied biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Wisconsin, obtaining a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Alberta in 1972.

Prof Mak is best known for his work on the cloning of T-cells receptor genes leading to the genetically-altered mice which have brought about breakthroughs in the understanding of breast cancer at the cellular level. Dr Mak was instrumental in the establishment of the AMGEN Research Institute in Toronto.

Prof Mak is an Officer of the Order of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. In addition to honorary doctorates from many universities in America and Europe, he is the recipient of the Emil von Behring Prize, the King Faisal Prize for Medicine, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Sloan Prize of the General Motors Cancer Foundation, the Paul Ehrlich Prize and the Novartis Prize in Immunology.