Xiangzhong Yang

Who was Xiangzhong Yang?

Professor Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang was a leading American biotechnology scientist, and stem cell research advocate. In 1999 he was credited with creating the first cloned farm animal in the United States – a cow called "Amy".

Born and raised in Hebei, China, Yang emigrated to the United States in 1983 where he received his Ph.D and first research position at Cornell University. In 1996 he joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut, and in 2001, was appointed founding director of the University's Center for Regenerative Biology.

In 1996 Yang was first diagnosed with salivary gland cancer, a condition that would eventually claim his life. On February 5, 2009 he died at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, aged 49.