Meet the Team
Meet our dedicated team members who specialize in researching galectins, a fascinating family of carbohydrate-binding proteins. These proteins come in various forms and play crucial roles within different layers of skin anatomy, including the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis Together, we are committed to advancing our understanding of these and their impact on skin health.
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Wen-Ta Chiu
Former Minister of Health and Welfare of the Republic of China.CO-CEO of AHMC Healthcare. Neurosurgeon / Professor
Member of the Board of Directors
Fu-Tong Liu, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Liu is a Professor in the Department of Dermatology, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California. He was Distinguished Professor and Chair of Dermatology at University of California-Davis, and then Distinguished Research Fellow and Director at Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, and Vice President of Academia Sinica. Dr. Liu’s research program is focused on the galectin family of animal lectins. His group contributed to the initial discovery of this family and naming of the family. His group has been investigating the functions of a number of the family members in the immune and inflammatory responses, including skin diseases. Dr. Liu has published extensively and his works have been highly cited.
Scientific Director of Basic Research
Ri-Yao Yang, Ph.D.
Dr. Yang uses in vitro and in vivo models to understand galectin functions in the regulation of cell death, activation, and differentiation in immunity and metabolism. Before joining the team, Dr. Yang was an Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he led a group of scientists to study cancer immunology, culminating in the identification of galectin-9 as a target for cancer immunotherapy. He later became a Senior Director of Cancer Biology at Ab Therapeutics, leading the development of multi-specific therapeutic antibodies targeting immune checkpoints. Dr. Yang has published highly impactful works on galectins in T cell death, adipocyte differentiation, and cancer immunotherapy. His publications are some of the most frequently cited in the galectin field. Dr. Yang directs basic research activities at the AHMC Dermatology and Research Center. Dr. Yang completed his postdoc training at Scripps Research with Dr. Fu-Tong Liu after receiving a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.