UCSF Professor Never Finished High School

Retired UCSF Pharmacology Professor Nancy Ma and Internist Peter Lee retired from their posts and--against all odds-- began the foundation WuWei Harmony . Nancy Ma was born in Shanghai during the 1940s. Her father worked as Asian General Manager for Colgate-Palmolive, a wonderful position...until the Communists took over in 1949.  He fled first to Hong Kong, a British territory back then. The rest of the family , however, could not get exit visas. (See post one.) After seven years of waiting, they finally managed to get to Hong Kong. (See post two.) 
Husband Peter fled from China for different reasons. His parents were part of the Nationalist Army that fought against the Japanese from 1937-45 and then the Communists from 1945-49. (See post three.) While Peter was safe from Communism, he realized upon college graduation that there weren't many job opportunities. Fortunately, he got a scholarship at the University of Texas. (See post four.) 

Meanwhile, when Nancy and the rest of her family got to Hong Kong, Nancy's mother enrolled her in the local high school.

“They were speaking only Cantonese or English,” said Nancy.  “Neither language I understood."
(She spoke Shanghai dialect and Mandarin.)
"I went there three days, and I came home and cried and said, ‘I don’t want to go to school.’" 
Nancy's mother relented.
Thus, Nancy--a future UCSF Professor of Pharmacology-- never finished high school. 

(To be continued. Next: How Fate Really Changes You.)