Originally from Penang, Malaysia, Kwan Kew Lai received a full scholarship from Wellesley College. She is a Harvard Medical Faculty Physician with a specialty in infectious disease. In 2005, she left her position as a Professor of Medicine to dedicate time to humanitarian work; in HIV/AIDS in Africa and provides disaster relief all over the world, during wars, famine, natural disasters, including the Ebola outbreak, the Syrian, Rohingya refugee crises, Yemen, and the COVID-19 pandemic in New York and the Navajo Nation. Her book debut, Lest We Forget: A Doctor’s Experience with Life and Death During the Ebola Outbreak chronicles her time in Liberia and Sierra Leone caring for Ebola patients during the greatest Ebola outbreak in the world. Into Africa, Out of Academia: A Doctor's Memoir came out in October 2020. Her upcoming book, The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly will be out this October 2022. She lives in Boston.