Dr. Kenneth Fong at the 22nd CABS Annual BioPacific Conference
On November 12th, 2022 the 22nd CABS Annual BioPacific Conference was held at the San Mateo Marriott. The BioPacific Conference is the annual flagship event of the CABS. Their mission is to bring scientists, executives and biopharmaceutical professionals from the Pacific Rim countries together to discuss the latest advances in the world of life sciences, the unprecedented challenges and promises facing the industry, and the breathtaking developments and opportunities in Asia/Pacific countries.
Dr. Scott Liu was honored as the recipient of the 2022 CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences. Dr. Liu was honored for his outstanding contribution to the development of multiple biologic products from research to launch.
Dr. Kenneth Fong has been supporting the organization for over 10 years and many attendees at the event spoke about his contributions to not only the industry but also his contributions to the AAPI community. The attendees who spoke about Dr. Kenneth Fong included Carrie Wang (MD, the President CABS), Yang Shao, (PhD, the Director of Production Operations, Curia Bio), Jessica Sun (Advisor, Terremoto Biosciences), and Dr. Scott Liu, (PhD, the Founder and CEO of HanchorBio Inc.).
About CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences
CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences is presented annually to recognize those individuals who make significant contributions in life sciences and the biopharmaceutical industry including outstanding scientific findings, recognized efforts in promoting life science education and initiatives in improving life science community, and those who bring therapeutic breakthroughs to the market and improve healthcare and quality of life.
About Dr. Kenneth Fong
Dr. Kenneth Fong has spent the last 32 years in the biotech industry after completing his academic pursuit in biomedical research.
He is best known for founding the biotech company, Clontech in 1984 which he built into one of the largest biomedical tool companies founded by an Asian American in the US (400 employees including 65 PhD scientists). Clontech was sold to Becton Dickinson in 1999 and Ken has continued his career as a Venture capitalist with Kenson Ventures that he founded. He has since cultivated more than 10 highly successful entrepreneurs, advising them and working with them on the growth of their companies.
Currently, he sits on the board of 4 biotech companies and he was intimately involved with the M/A and IPO of more than 10 companies that are worth more than $3 billion. These companies range from research tools, medical diagnostics and drug development. In almost all cases, Dr. Fong has been instrumental in providing strategies for sustainable growth, value creation and liquidity. Those successful entrepreneurs have moved on to assume leadership in other start-up and mid-sized companies, which in turn led to a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Ken has held a number of leadership positions over the years. He served as the President of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in North America (2006-07) and President of the Bay Area Asian American Manufacturers’ Association (AAMA, 1987). He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California State University System (2006-13). His philanthropic interests include scholarships to San Francisco State University, the Kenneth Fong-Hearst endowed scholarships to the CSU system and 40 student scholarships to Peking University. In 2006, he was involved with establishing the Fong Optometry and Medical library at UC Berkeley, and more recently an endowed professorship at Stanford University and a technology translation endowed fund at San Francisco State University
Ken obtained his PhD from Indiana University and his BS from San Francisco State University.
Some of the highlights of the 2022 BioPacific Conference included:
Best practices for small molecule drug discovery
A new class of oncology drug targets
Winner of the 2022 CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences
Success stories from pharma entrepreneurs
Building a robust drug candidate pipeline
Pharma partnering and investment strategies
New technologies for studying protein structures
Targeting an oncoprotein previously thought to be undruggable
Leveraging digital technologies to accelerate medical innovation
China-US cross-border collaboration with large pharmaceutical companies