Dr. Chil-Yong (Yong) Kang, PhD, DSc, FRSC, is a molecular virologist and Professor of Virology in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario in Canada (1992-Present).

He carried out his postgraduate studies at McMaster University where he received a Ph.D. in virology under the supervision of Professor Ludvik Prevec (1968-1971) and his postdoctoral training under Professor Howard Temin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1971-1974).

Dr. Kang went on to serve as a Professor of Virology in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas (1974-1982), Professor and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Medicine (1982-1992), and Dean of Science at the University of Western Ontario (1992-1999).

His research in molecular virology includes the development of viral-specific antiviral therapeutic agents and efficacious vaccines against various human viral diseases including AIDS, hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Previously, he developed a second generation vaccine against hepatitis B virus and an experimental vaccine against HIV/AIDS by using state-of-the-art technologies of genetic engineering and biotechnology. Recently, his Phase I human clinical trial of SAV001 prophylactic HIV vaccine, based on genetically modified killed-whole HIV-1, was successfully completed and preparing for the Phase II trial. Dr. Kang has published 135 peer reviewed research papers and 149 scientific proceedings and abstracts in the fields of virology, Immunology, molecular biology, and medicine. He holds nine international biotechnology patents that cover over 70 countries.

Dr. Kang has received numerous prizes such as the Award of Excellence of the University of Ottawa (1991), Gold Medal for Ilchun Lecture (1998), Ho-Am Prize in Medicine (1999), the Order of Korea in Science and Technology (2002), the McMaster University Distinguished Alumni Award for 2007, the Lifetime Achievement Award from University of Western Ontario (2009), the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), selected as a Korean-Canadian Diaspora to Canadian Society by Canadian Government (2013) and the Scientist of the Year Award from the Korean Federation of Science and Technology (2013). Dr. Kang was elected as a Life-time Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Academy of Science (1993) and an elected Life-time Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (1997).