Mei-Hwei Chang

Mei-Hwei Chang led the landmark Taiwan hepatitis B vaccination program starting in 1984 — and demonstrated decades later that universal infant HBV vaccination dramatically reduced liver cancer (HCC) incidence in the vaccinated generation. This is the first example of a vaccination program demonstrably reducing cancer incidence at the population level, establishing proof-of-concept that vaccines can prevent virus-associated cancers and inspiring broader cancer prevention vaccination efforts.