Journey of a Thousand Miles ─ An Extraordinary Life

Born into poverty in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Ruey Yu overcame near-starvation during World War II and rose to become a successful biochemist and co-founder of the multi-million dollar skin care company NeoStrata. Now, Dr. Yu tells his incredible personal story in a new memoir. After living through the Second World War and the post-war military dictatorship of General Chiang Kai-Shek, Dr. Yu won a coveted post-graduate scholarship to study chemistry at the University of Ottawa. He subsequently took up a research position at the renowned Skin and Cancer Hospital in Philadelphia, where he collaborated with pre-eminent dermatologist Dr. Eugene Van Scott to develop treatments for serious skin diseases, including cancer. In 1972, Dr. Yu and Dr. Van Scott discovered that fruit acids, known as AHAs, could effectively treat the disfiguring skin disease ichthyosis, changing the lives of thousands of people who suffered from this debilitating illness. Their further research into the biochemical properties of AHAs led to the discovery of the anti-wrinkle and anti-aging effects of these natural substances – a discovery that was licensed by skin care companies around the world, sparking the multi-billion dollar cosmeceutical industry. Now in his 80s, Dr. Ruey J. Yu continues to work in the lab every day, where he is currently researching the biochemical basis of Alzheimer’s disease. In 2016, he and Dr. Van Scott sold NeoStrata to Johnson & Johnson, which is expanding the company’s research labs into a center of excellence for dermatological research.