Celebrating a McGill Pioneer: Supporting the Thomas Ming Swi Chang Endowed Lectureship
Donate to help complete the endowment and establish the Lectureship in perpetuity.
Voted the "Greatest McGilllian" in 2011.
Help us honour Prof. Thomas Ming Swi Chang—pioneer of the world’s first artificial cell and a visionary whose work laid the foundations for modern drug delivery, artificial blood substitutes, and nanomedicine. Our department is establishing the Thomas Ming Swi Chang Lectureship, an annual keynote by a leading innovator who embodies Prof. Chang’s creativity and impact.
With $150,000 already committed, we are seeking partners to help raise the final $50,000 needed to endow this Lectureship in perpetuity. Your gift will sustain a distinguished annual lecture that inspires discovery and celebrates Prof. Chang’s extraordinary legacy.
Shaping Medical Treatment
In 1957, Dr. Thomas Ming Swi Chang created the world’s first artificial cell: an engineered red blood cell that could carry hemoglobin almost as effectively as a natural blood cell. Professor Chang’s research was years ahead of its time; in fact, this pioneering invention and discovery laid the foundations for entire new fields within biomedical engineering and paved the way for revolutionary medical treatments.
Artificial cells underpin modern drug delivery systems and artificial blood substitutes. The charcoal-filled artificial cells Prof. Chang developed in the 1960s became a standard for hemoperfusion in cases of poisoning and liver and kidney failure and are used to treat metabolic disorders such as Phenylketonuria. The concept of artificial cells extends to mRNA vaccine delivery systems and has broad applications in cancer therapy, nanomedicine and regenerative medicine. Many advances in these fields trace back to Prof. Chang’s foundational invention.
By making a gift today, you can help complete the endowment and establish the Lectureship in perpetuity.