Yaxia Liu was born in Guangzhou, China on October 26, 1953. She grew up there with her parents, grandparents, and four siblings: one older sister, two younger sisters, and one younger brother.

When she was in middle school, the Cultural Revolution started in China. With schools closed and the future uncertain, she joined the army when she was only 15 years old. Yaxia was selected to go to medical school after serving for one year, and at 19, she graduated from medical school and became a biochemistry teacher there. She was the youngest teacher in the medical school!

In 1983, Yaxia was admitted to the Beijing Institute of Basic Medicine, a top medical Institute in China, where she conducted research in molecular biology and immunology.  She received her Master’s degree in 1986 and continued immunology research at the school afterwards. 

In 1989, she received a scholarship from USC Children’s Hospital to come to the United States for cancer research. The same year, her youngest sister and her husband came to the United States, and since then, Yaxia has been surrounded by her sister’s family. While Yaxia lived in Los Angeles, she also worked for City of Hope, and Alfigen Genetics Institute.

In 1997, Yaxia’s sister’s family moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area in Northern California. During the years of separation, Yaxia was greatly missed by the kids and the whole family, and in 2000, Yaxia decided to rejoin them. She found a job at Kaiser in San Jose, and the whole family could be together again. 

During all these years, she has taken care of her sister’s family as her own and helped to raise all three wonderful kids. Yaxia was respected and loved, and she will be remembered by everyone in the family and all of her co-workers and friends.