Biography
Tuan-Hua David Ho is a professor in the Plant Biology, Developmental Biology and Molecular Genetics programs of the Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his BS in botany from National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, and a PhD in biochemistry from Michigan State University. Professor Ho joined the faculty of Washington University in 1984 as an associate professor and has served as the associate chair of the Department of Biology. From 2004–2007 he was on leave from Washington University and appointed distinguished research fellow and director of the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology for Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. He rejoined the Department of Biology in January 2008 as a professor of biology. Professor Ho studies the hormonal control of seed germination, in particular, the role of hormones in allowing plants to be resistant to environmental stresses such as drought and cold. He studies the regulation of genes that play a role in stress responses in plants, and in mediating stress tolerance. He is an academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and a fellow, TWAS, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World.