About Shan Woo Liu

Author Shan Woo Liu is the great granddaughter of Wu Lien-teh. She was born in Michigan, grew up in Los Altos, Ca and moved to Boston for medical school. She is an emergency medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the past president of the Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine.  She has written articles for CNN, US News and World Report, Google Doodle, and been featured in TedxMGH and SAEM Pulse.

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Shan is also the proud mom of two sweet kids, wife of a talented journalist, and daughter of hardworking immigrants. Having lived in Boston for more than half of her life, she also a Pats fan (obviously). 

Shan's daughter, Kaili, began writing Masked Hero: How Wu Lien-teh Invented the Mask and Ended an Epidemic as part of a first-grade project in 2020, soon after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the United States. Masked Hero is the first book written by Shan and Kaili. They are proud to share the story of Dr. Wu, and to help children understand that even the simplest acts, such as wearing a mask, can make us all powerful, brave, and hard working heroes, just like Wu Lien-teh!

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Photo by Sharon Brody