Dr. Wu's Journey of Science & Growing up in the Cultural Revolution in China

Dr. Caicai Wu grew up in China in an intellectual family, with both parents obtained master’s
degrees from US. As she was about to finish junior high school, the cultural revolution started.
Like millions of millions of teenagers of that time in China, she was sent to the countryside,
1,200 miles away from her home town, Beijing, to be “Re-educated”. She worked in the field and
later worked as a “barefoot doctor” in a village for four and half years. After returning to Beijing,
she worked as a chemist in the waste treatment plant in a coking factory for five years. During
those five years, she self-studied high school curriculum and some college level chemistry
books. When the cultural revolution ended, she passed the competitive entrance exam to
college. Her mother, a senior translator in the largest news agency in China who held a Master’s
degree in Teaching English from Columbia University in US, trained her in English for over 15
years. In 1988, she passed the TOFEL and GRE exam and was accepted in the graduate
program at the University of Washington in Seattle. She received her PhD in Analytical
Chemistry in 1993 and completed two post-doctoral fellowships from the Departments of Lab
Medicine and Bioengineering at the University of Washington. Dr. Wu is a diplomate of the
American Board of Clinical Chemistry emeritus and was a fellow in the National Academy of
Clinical Biochemistry. From 1999 to 1981, Dr. Wu worked for Pacific Biometrics, Inc. (PBI), a
Seattle based clinical reference laboratory. Dr. Wu performed a number of duties with increasing
responsibility. She was the Associate / Technical Director for six years. Since 2011, Dr. Wu
worked as the Laboratory Supervisor in the Science Department at Northwest University in
Kirkland, Washington. Dr. Wu also teaches the laboratory courses for Survey of Chemistry in the
same school. She has published over 20 articles / abstracts in peer reviewed scientific journals
and held 7 patents. After retirement in 2021, Dr. Wu continued to teach online science courses
at Northwest University for 2 years. Now, Dr. Wu is the science instructor for College of Adaptive
Arts.

From 2010, Dr. Wu started taking voice lessons with an opera singer Pamela La Salle
Casella. The voice training has been strict and challenging. Dr. Wu loves to share such
gifts with others, especially for seniors in retirement homes. She was one of the
founding members of Gospel Choir at the University Presbyterian Church since 2005.
From 2011 to 2013, she participated in several chorus singing of opera productions by
Lyric Opera Northwest, such as La Boheme, La Traviata, Tosca. At school she sang
solo for her students and for visitors from China. She also sang at the wedding of the
chairman of the Science Department, Dr. Steinkamp. In 2014, she started to lead sing
along or singing solo for seniors at Merrill Garden, Columbia, Hearthstone and Crista
retirement facilities. In addition, she sang solos in the masses at Sacred Heart Church
in downtown Seattle and in talent shows for international students at University
Presbyterian in Seattle. After moving to CA, Dr. Wu continues to use the gift of singing
to serve senior communities.

In her spare time, other than singing, Dr. Wu enjoys writing and cooking.