NCKU President Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Tainan, TAIWAN, February, 10, 2009 --- The President of National Cheng Kung University, Dr. Michael Ming-Chiao Lai (賴明詔), was presented with the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA) in recognition of his exceptional achievements on groundbreaking and pioneering nature in molecular virology, especially in hepatitis and coronavirus and their implications in diverse human infectious diseases, cancer and therapeutics. The co-recipient for the Lifetime Achievement Awards is Professor Jean Chen Shih from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Both awardees will be presented with a SCBA Trophy and a US$ 2,000 cash award, approximately 67 thousand NTD, as well as are invited to present a keynote lecture of their respective fields during the 12th SCBA International Symposium to be held at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, over June 14 - 18, 2009.
Academician Michael M.C. Lai, the President of NCKU, earned his Bachelor of Medicine (MB) from National Taiwan University and Ph.D. degree in molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an Academician of Academia Sinica and the former Vice President of Academia Sinica as well as a Distinguished Professor of the University of Southern California. He now also serves as a member of the Science & Technology Advisory Group of the Executive Yuan. He has achieved grand academic performance with more than 300 published papers. He was honored with many awards and memberships including Researcher of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Academician of Academia Sinica, and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, Lifetime Achievement Award of University of Southern California, and Science and Engineering Achievement Award of Taiwan-American Foundation.
Dr. Lai is a globally well-known and respected virologist. He is interested in understanding the virus-induced demyelination, coronavirus, hepatitis C virus and hepatitis delta virus (HDV). He is the one in the world to find the first oncogene (src) with his advisor at UC Berkley from his research work on the relationship between tumor virus and cancer cells, which opened a new way to oncology research. Afterwards, he discovered more oncogenes, which drew global attention and earned the reputation as “the Father of Coronavirus”. During the outbreak of SARS in 2003, he voluntarily returned to Taiwan as the leader of SARS research team. He has been a leader in the research of hepatitis viruses and has served as editors of internationally well-known scientific journals.
The SCBA Award Committee recognized the awardees for their significant influence on education and training of many current well-established bioscientists in various disciplines, as role models among many young scientists and colleagues and their service to the scientific community and general public. In additional, the committee further identified the significant contributions of both Professors Lai and Shih for their distinguished leadership and service to SCBA and the Chinese scientific communities as Past SCBA Presidents.
The awardees have been selected among many qualified candidates by the Award Committee consisting of former SCBA Award recipients, distinguished scientists and peers. The selection process has gone through numerous rounds of serious evaluation and deliberation. The selections have been unanimous and are enthusiastically endorsed by the SCBA Council.
SCBA is a non-profit scientific organization founded by a few prominent and enthusiastic bioscientists in 1984. Currently, SCBA has more than 2,500 members from various universities, academies, medical institutions, industrial and biotechnology companies. Since its inception, 40 SCBA Chapters have been formed in US, Canada, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Europe.
SCBA‘s objectives are to promote research in biosciences, to advance biological and medical knowledge, to improve occupational opportunities of its members, to facilitate professional networking among members, and to establish a spirit of fraternity and international cooperation.
SCBA has two divisions, one on biopharm division and the other on neuroscience division.
Academician Michael M.C. Lai, the President of NCKU, earned his Bachelor of Medicine (MB) from National Taiwan University and Ph.D. degree in molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an Academician of Academia Sinica and the former Vice President of Academia Sinica as well as a Distinguished Professor of the University of Southern California. He now also serves as a member of the Science & Technology Advisory Group of the Executive Yuan. He has achieved grand academic performance with more than 300 published papers. He was honored with many awards and memberships including Researcher of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Academician of Academia Sinica, and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, Lifetime Achievement Award of University of Southern California, and Science and Engineering Achievement Award of Taiwan-American Foundation.
Dr. Lai is a globally well-known and respected virologist. He is interested in understanding the virus-induced demyelination, coronavirus, hepatitis C virus and hepatitis delta virus (HDV). He is the one in the world to find the first oncogene (src) with his advisor at UC Berkley from his research work on the relationship between tumor virus and cancer cells, which opened a new way to oncology research. Afterwards, he discovered more oncogenes, which drew global attention and earned the reputation as “the Father of Coronavirus”. During the outbreak of SARS in 2003, he voluntarily returned to Taiwan as the leader of SARS research team. He has been a leader in the research of hepatitis viruses and has served as editors of internationally well-known scientific journals.
The SCBA Award Committee recognized the awardees for their significant influence on education and training of many current well-established bioscientists in various disciplines, as role models among many young scientists and colleagues and their service to the scientific community and general public. In additional, the committee further identified the significant contributions of both Professors Lai and Shih for their distinguished leadership and service to SCBA and the Chinese scientific communities as Past SCBA Presidents.
The awardees have been selected among many qualified candidates by the Award Committee consisting of former SCBA Award recipients, distinguished scientists and peers. The selection process has gone through numerous rounds of serious evaluation and deliberation. The selections have been unanimous and are enthusiastically endorsed by the SCBA Council.
SCBA is a non-profit scientific organization founded by a few prominent and enthusiastic bioscientists in 1984. Currently, SCBA has more than 2,500 members from various universities, academies, medical institutions, industrial and biotechnology companies. Since its inception, 40 SCBA Chapters have been formed in US, Canada, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Europe.
SCBA‘s objectives are to promote research in biosciences, to advance biological and medical knowledge, to improve occupational opportunities of its members, to facilitate professional networking among members, and to establish a spirit of fraternity and international cooperation.
SCBA has two divisions, one on biopharm division and the other on neuroscience division.
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