Steven S. Wu is a scientist, physician, teacher, and writer who has worked in both the academic and corporate worlds during his career. He would love to be able to add ‘paralinguist’ to his résumé as well—by analogy to titles like ‘paramedic’ or ‘paralegal’—but unfortunately, it’s not a word that exists yet (though he is trying to change that.)* His first formal language training was thanks to “Sesame Street” on PBS, back before there was something called an ‘internet’. Other formative influences from his early years include the Andover Public Library (which owned, among other things, “The Russian Alphabet Book For Kids”); being hosted by a lovely exchange family in Antibes, France (to whom he introduced the odd concept of ‘tofu’); and regretting that he never understood what his grandmother was saying, even though she spoke as if he did.   

He earned an undergraduate degree in Biology and East Asian Languages, despite believing (at the time) that these two disciplines aren’t really related; now he knows better. While studying medicine in New York City, he lived in Washington Heights (and never met Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was in middle school at the time); working there and later in Los Angeles taught him the importance of Spanish, and he’s grateful for all the patients and their families who taught him more about the language than he could ever have gotten from a book or Duolingo. He has also lived and worked in Boston, Salt Lake City, and Guangzhou, China.    

Over the past two decades, he has collaborated with scientists from around the world, authored medical publications, overseen clinical trials, and traveled for the purposes of scientific exchange, cross-cultural engagement, and just plain fun. One of his main interests is the relationship between nutrition and development of brain functions—including language—in early life. He has been privileged to lecture for health care professionals in various parts of the US, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. No matter where he is, he always tries to start lectures with a few words in the local language… and if he can land a joke that way, it makes his whole week.

He now lives in southern Indiana and is a member of the adjunct faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

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