The Reporter: February 1997, Vol.8, No.1
Columbia's Profiles in Giving
Clyde and Helen Wu

Clyde and Helen Wu

Dr. Clyde Wu's relationship with Columbia goes back to the 1950s when he was a student at P&S. After receiving his M.D. degree in 1956, Dr. Wu pursued a successful career as a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. Today, Dr. Wu is a Columbia University trustee and is very interested in the work done at P&S. Dr. Wu and his wife, Helen, have two sons who are also physicians. Dr. Wu's niece, June Wu, graduated from P&S in 1996 and is now training in the medical center's Department of Surgery.

In the 1980s, Dr. Wu and his wife, a former concert pianist, presented a gift to construct a piano practice room in Bard Hall. They later established a student loan endowment fund, which Dr. Wu requested be made available to worthy students who would be charged no interest during their years of education and training. Dr. Wu is a grateful alumnus, saying, "P&S took a chance on me." Dr. Wu's interest in enriching the medical school experience for students is apparent in his five-year pledge to the endowment for the P&S Club, which offers musical, theatrical, and social activities for P&S students.

In 1994, Dr. Wu sponsored a research and teaching exchange agreement between P&S and Hong Kong University. Most recently, Dr. and Mrs. Wu made a gift to establish the Wu Professorship in Clinical Oncology and the Clyde and Helen Wu Professorship in Molecular Cardiology.