OLD GUILDFORDIANS
George
Cheng Yeoh
Old Guildfordian
of the Year 2014
With a life dedicated to the battle against
cancer, George Cheng Yeoh BSc (Hons)
PhD (Ha 1961-1964) has been selected
as our Old Guildfordian of the Year 2014.
Leading a very busy life, he is the newly
elected President of Cancer Council Western
Australia, the Associate Dean of Research at
the University of Western Australia Faculty
of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences,
as well as Professor of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Science.
The remarkable work of his research
laboratory has seen it build an international
reputation as the first to demonstrate the
presence of liver progenitor cells in human
liver diseases linked to liver cancer.
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George’s extraordinary journey includes being
awarded the CJ Martin Overseas Research
Fellowship, under the banner of the National
Health and Medical Research Council, to
study at the University of Pennsylvania,
United States of America, and the Beatson
Institute for Cancer Research, Scotland.
His extensive expertise and the respect of
his peers saw him elected as the inaugural
President of the Australasian Society for Stem
Cell Research.
the University of Western Australia and
Guildford Grammar School.
It is true that George remains very humble
about his achievements and he feels
indebted for the opportunities that life has
given him. At the recent Old Guildfordians
Annual Dinner on 4 October 2014, at which
George received his Old Guildfordian of
the Year Award, he expressed tremendous
gratitude for Australia, our fine state,
While he is very thankful for his time at our
School, in the beginning it was not certain
George would be one of our students. His
father failed with his initial attempts to
enrol George and his older brother Cheng
Ee (Freddie) Yeoh (Ha 1961-1963). The
Headmaster at the time, David Lawe Davies
(Staff 1957-1978), relayed the news that
George Yeoh BSc (Hons) PhD is at the forefront of medical research
in the fight against liver diseases.
the School was fully booked for the next
two years for those respective year groups.
Even a letter from a good friend of George’s
father, The Assistant Bishop of Singapore at
the time, the Right Reverend Roland Koh,
failed to find a space for the boys. This was a
shame as George and Freddie’s school at the
time, St. Ildephonsus’ College later known as
New Norcia Catholic College, didn’t provide
Biology as a subject, something George has
obviously found to be a major passion in
life. However, the persistence of George’s
father eventually paid off and circumstances
changed at Guildford Grammar School
allowing both boys to attend. Supporting
their enrolment was a letter from the
Director/Headmaster of St Ildephonsus’
College, Brother Oswald Maher, describing
the boys as “well behaved”, having “more
than average ability” and being of a
“studious type”. At the tender age of 14,
even on George’s application form it was
indicated that medicine was his likely career,
a precursor for things to come.