Academician Robert Yu passed away in the United States on May 18, 2022. He was 84 years old.

Dr. Yu was a renowned scientist in Neuroscience and Biochemistry and has made pioneering contributions to our understanding of glycoconjugates, the complex sugar molecules that facilitate many biological functions in health and disease. Dr. Yu was also devoted to research in neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Yu obtained his Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, taught at Yale University from 1973 to 1988, and received an honorary Med.Sci.D. degree from the University of Tokyo in 1980. Dr. Yu then served as Chair and Professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University from 1988 to 2000. In 2000, he joined the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, as Director and Professor of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, and since 2009 as Professor of the Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine.

During his distinguished career, Dr. Yu authored four books and over 450 scientific papers. In 1995, he received Virginia’s Outstanding Scientist of the Year Award, and from 2001 to 2003, he became the first Chinese scientist to serve as the President of the American Society of Neurochemistry. Dr. Yu was elected Academia Sinica Academician in 2004.