Obituary of Shu Ying Li Hsu

Dr. Shu Ying Li Hsu, 85, a world-renowned parasitologist and professor emeritus of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa, died in Iowa City, Iowa, on Saturday November 19, 2005, after a brief illness. Funeral services for Dr. Li Hsu will be at 1:00pm, Tuesday, November 29, 2005, at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 1300 Melrose Ave, Iowa City. A reception will follow these services in the fellowship hall of the church. Following the reception, graveside services will take place at Oakland Cemetery, 1000 Brown St, Iowa City, where both Dr. Li Hsu and her deceased husband, Dr. Hsi Fan Hsu, will be buried. Visitation will be at the Gay and Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service, 2720 Muscatine Ave, Iowa City, between 4:30pm and 8:00pm on Monday, November 28, 2005. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Hsu-Li Distinguished Lectureship in Epidemiology Fund through the University of Iowa Foundation, P.O. Box 4550, Iowa City, IA 52244-4550. This lectureship is established to honor the outstanding contributions of Dr. Shu Ying Li Hsu and her deceased husband Dr. Hsi Fan Hsu. It is awarded annually by the Department of Epidemiology of the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa to an individual who has made important scholarly contributions to the advancement of epidemiology. The recipient will deliver a public lecture at the College of Public Health of the University of Iowa. Dr. Li Hsu was born on August 16, 1920, in China and became a US citizen in 1961. She is the daughter of Chiao Ping Li and Hsin Fu Chen and married Dr. Hsi Fan Hsu in 1954. She earned her bachelor degree in biology from the National Peking Normal University in China in 1940 and her PhD degree in Preventive Medicine from the University of Iowa in 1957. Through her 50-year academic career, Dr. Li Hsu was an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Parasitology at the National Shenyang Medical College in China; Professor in Zoology at the National Taiwan University; and Professor in Preventive Medicine at the University of Iowa. Dr. Li Hsu was well known for her pioneering contributions in the prevention and intervention of schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that affects many areas of the world including China, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa. In 1952, she and her husband, Dr. Hsu, discovered that a non-human strain of the disease could create immunity in human and prevent infection of the disease. They subsequently developed a live vaccine against schistosomasis by using an irradiated organism in 1961. The vaccine was successfully field-tested in China in 1984, and the effectiveness of the vaccine in cattle and a promise for use in human were demonstrated. Dr. Li Hsu published more than 80 scientific articles in journals around the world, such as Nature, American Journal of Tropical Medicine, and Parasitology, most of which were co-written with her husband. In 1986, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to schistosomiasis, Dr. Li Hsu was elected honorary member of the Society of Parasitology in Shanghai, China, and designated honorary professor of parasitology of the Peking Medical Union College in China. Dr. Li Hsu is survived by her daughters, Lia Hsu-Pieper of Iowa City, and Tong Tai Xu of China; son Tong Wen Xu of China; six grandchildren, her brothers De Zi Li, Gang Li and Ti Zi Li and her sister Yi Ying Li all of China. She is preceded in death by her husband Dr. Hsi Fan Hsu and one son, Tong Xu Xu. .