Choh Hao Li Papers, 1937-1987
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf738nb543 No online items Register of the Choh Hao Li Papers, 1937-1987 Processed by Julia Bazar; machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou UCSF Library & CKM Archives and Special Collections 530 Parnassus Ave. San Francisco, CA 94143-0840 Phone: (415) 476-8112 Fax: (415) 476-4653 Email: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives/contact URL: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives © 1998 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Note History --History, California --GeneralBiological and Medical Sciences --Biological Sciences --Biochemistry Register of the Choh Hao Li MSS 88-9 1 Papers, 1937-1987 Register of the Choh Hao Li Papers, 1937-1987 Collection number: MSS 88-9 UCSF Library & CKM Archives and Special Collections University of California, San Francisco Contact Information: UCSF Library & CKM Archives and Special Collections 530 Parnassus Ave. San Francisco, CA 94143-0840 Phone: (415) 476-8112 Fax: (415) 476-4653 Email: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives/contact URL: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives Processed by: Julia Bazar Date Completed: August 1997 Encoded by: Xiuzhi Zhou © 1998 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Choh Hao Li Papers, Date (inclusive): 1937-1987 Collection number: MSS 88-9 Collector: Li, Choh Hao Extent: Number of containters: 51 cartons, 5 boxes, 1 oversize box Linear feet: approx. 65 Repository: University of California, San Francisco. Library. Archives and Special Collections. San Francisco, California 94143-0840 Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog. Language: English. Access/Restriction: Since some of the materials in the Li papers contain medical information on named individuals all users of the collection must sign a confidentiality agreement, stating that they will not use the names of any individual in association with medical information. Carton 49-56 have further restrictions on use, consult with Special Collections staff on availabilty. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Choh Hao Li Papers, MSS 88-9, Archives & Special Collections, UCSF Library & CKM Summary Born April 21, 1913 in Canton China, Choh Hao Li received a B.S. (Chemistry) from the University of Nanking and taught there for two years before coming to U.C. Berkeley in 1935. After receiving his Ph.D. in Physio-organic Chemistry from Berkeley in 1938 he went to work as a Research Assistant in Herbert McLean Evan's Experimental Biology Laboratory advancing to lecturer and then through Assistant and Associate Professor. In 1950 he was made full professor and became the first director of the newly created Hormone Research Laboratory (HRL). Li moved with the HRL to the University of California San Francisco campus in 1967. He officially retired in 1983, but as emeritus professor, from 1983 until his death in 1987, he headed the Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology. Register of the Choh Hao Li MSS 88-9 2 Papers, 1937-1987 During his career, Li received at least 25 scientific awards and 10 honorary degrees, and published 1,100 scientific articles with over 300 collaborators. He also chaired numerous symposia, served on local, national, and international advisory boards and edited several scientific journals and books. A pioneer in the field of bio-chemistry, Li devoted his professional life to unlocking the secrets of the pituitary gland. He was either the first, or one of the first, to identify and/or purify eight of the nine hormones of the anterior pituitary. The identification, purification and later synthesis of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) or somatatropin, and the identification of beta-endorphin were his two most widely recognized achievements, but he also worked on ACTH (corticotrophin), the gonadotropins --leuteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), thyrotropin, prolactin, melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH), and lipotropin. His last accomplishment was the identification and purification of insulin-like growth factor I. While not a clinician or directly involved in clinical research, Li's discoveries had direct clinical impact, especially in the areas of growth and fertility. Family One of 11 children of a Cantonese industrialist, Li grew up in a family that stressed education. All of his siblings attended college, many going on to advanced study, and at least three spending some time in the United States. His elder brother Choh-Ming Li, received a doctorate in Economics from U.C. Berkeley and later became the Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University in Hong Kong and was considered for a UN education post. Another brother, Choh-Luh, was a neurosurgeon at the National Institute for Health (NIH), in Bethesda, Maryland, and a third brother, Choh Hsien, was director of Minneapolis-Honeywell Corporation's research division. Li met his future wife, Shen Hwai Lu (Annie), in 1931 at the University of Nanking. They married in 1938, after he had received his doctorate and convinced her to pursue graduate studies in the United States. She received her masters in Agricultural Economics from U.C. Berkeley when their eldest child was two. Mrs. Li reported that C.H. discussed the titles, introductions and conclusions of his papers with her, allowing her to make suggestions and briefed her on the daily happenings at the laboratory. He worked 6 or 7 days a week until he was in his in his mid-fifties and she convinced him to cut back to 5 days so that they could spend their weekends in the country. They had three children all of whom received professional degrees. Their son, Wei-i, became a doctor, and daughters Anne-si and Eva , a veterinarian and an environmental designer. Choh Hao Li became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1955. Education Li graduated from Pui Ying High School in Canton in 1929, at sixteen years of age, and went on the University of Nanking where he received his bachelors degree in 1933. After teaching two years at Nanking (1933-35) he applied for admission to graduate schools in the United States. The University of California at Berkeley where his older brother Choh-Ming was attending was his first choice. However he did receive immediate acceptance into the U.C. program, because the Dean, Gilbert Newton Lewis was skeptical of Li's Chinese undergraduate degree. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor did accept him. On his way East to Ann Arbor Li stopped at Berkeley to visit his brother and make one last try at admittance. Li showed Dean Lewis his first scientific paper in English, recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). The paper's senior researcher, Ward V. Evans of Northwestern University, was known and respected by Lewis, and subsequently Li was admitted to the program on six months probation. Three years later, in 1938, Li received his doctorate degree. Career Anti-Asian sentiment was strong during the Depression, making jobs and housing difficult to find for a young Chinese man. Biologist Herbert Evans took an interest in the young chemist and offered him a tiny work space in the Basement of his Experimental Biology Laboratory (EBLl) in the Life Sciencees Building at Berkeley. At the EBL, Evans was beginning to explore the workings of the pituitary galnd and Li's chemistry background was essential for the success of the research. However, this cooperation between Chemistry and Biology was new and his biologist lab-mates reportedly did not know what to make of Li and left him to his own devices. It was during these early years with Dr. Evans that Li developed the techniques necessary to isolate hormones from the brain and identify their chemical structure. This research paved the way for a series of discoveries which greatly increased scientific knowledge and had a profound effect on the understanding and treatment of a variety of diseases and conditions. Li's first success came in 1940 when he isolated luteinizing hormone, the first hormone from the anterior pituitary, which along with follicle stimulating hormone, is important in sexual development and fertility. With his isolation of bovine growth hormone (1944) Li began to receive notice. During this period he advanced from Research Associate (1938) to Lecturer in Chemical Morphology (1942), becoming Assistant Professor of Experimental Biology in 1944. Li became an Associate Professor in 1947 the same year he received the CIBA Award in Endocrinology. In 1948 he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, which he appied to fund research under the direction of Arne Tiselius at the University of Uppsala in Uppsala, Sweden. Tiselius had won the 1948 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work with separating Register of the Choh Hao Li MSS 88-9 3 Papers, 1937-1987 the proteins in the blood stream. He also developed equipment and techniques for separation of proteins and became the leader in protein chromatography. Li was originally supposed to spend six months in Sweden and then return to Berkeley, however, while at Uppsala, Li extended his stay. Fearing Li's loss, UC administrators acted quickly to meet his research needs. Li returned to Berkeley in 1950 as a full Professor with joint appointments in the newly created Berkeley Biochemistry Department and the San Francisco Experimental Endocrinology Department. At the same time he was named Director of the newly designated Hormone Research Institute. Li maintained strong ties with Tiselius and two future directors of University of Uppsala departments, Dr. C.A. Gemzell, Chairman (1959-72) Department of OB/GYN and Dr. Jerker Porath, Director Institute of Biochemistry, trained under Li at the HRL. The isolation of human growth hormone in 1955 and the successful synthesis of human growth hormone in 1971 confirmed Li's place in scientific history.