Dr. Harald zur Hausen, 2008 Noble Laureate in Medicine was invited to Taiwan to share his research experience and expertise on virology. The doctor was a guest of the Wen Shi Jen Foundation and gave lectures at various locations from November 26 to December 1. He visited NTHU on November 30 and presented a public lecture on "Papillomaviruse in Human Cancers." The lecture at NTHU attracted a large audience of faculty and students as well as scientists from the greater Hsinchu area. After his lecture, a very lively question and answer session was held. It was clear from the questions raised that the audience in attendance was very knowledgeable with Dr. Haussen's work.

Dr. Harald zur Hausen was born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany and received a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Dusseldorf in 1960. He is most well known for his discovery that the Epstein-Barr virus could transform healthy cells, lymphocytes, into cancer cells. He continued his research on the virus working with Lutz Gissmann where they first isolated human papillomavirus 6 by simple centriugation from genital warts. Together with Ehtel-Michelle de Villers the group isolated HPV 6 DNA also from genital warts, suggesting new possibilities for identifying viruses in human tumors. Their work paved the foundation for Dr. Hausen to identify HPV 16 DNA in cervical cancer tumors by Souther blot hybridization in 1983. This was followed by a discovery of HPV 18 a year later, thus identifying the culprits responsible for roughly 75% of human cervical cancer.

From 1983 to 2003 Dr. Hausen served as chairman on the advisory board of the German Cancer Research Center and was a professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg. He is also the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Cancer as well as the author of the 2006 book Infections Causing Human Cancer. In addition to receiving the Noble Prize Dr. Haussen also received the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 2008 for his contribution to medical science.