Margaret A. Liu

Margaret A. Liu (born June 11, 1956) is a physician and researcher studying gene expression, immune responses, and vaccines. From 2015 to 2017, Liu served as president of the International Society for Vaccines.

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.

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 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. At Merck, she worked with Maurice Hilleman who was one of her most influential mentors. a Vice-Chairman at Transgène, an independent director of Ipsen, the president of the International Society for Vaccines from 2015 to 2017, where she was responsible for "monitoring and enhancing…and in identifying new opportunities for investment" for their billion-dollar vaccine programs and investments. During her time at the Gates Foundation, she worked part time at Transgène, realizing that she enjoyed splitting her time between organizations and jobs. and was a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a Fellow of the Molecular Medicine Society.

Research Liu develops novel approaches to vaccines and immune treatments for cancer. She pioneered the development of DNA vaccines, which may offer "the hope of better, more stable vaccines that can be rapidly produced." In response to the injection of DNA, the body may produce proteins that provoke an immune response, protecting against the virus. Some DNA vaccines are in clinical trials for humans. Others are already licensed for veterinary treatments.

Awards and honors 2017, honorary Doctorate of Science, Karolinska Institute, Sweden 2002, Discover Magazine's 50 most important women in science