Announcing 2026 CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences

Date: September 19, 2026 @ 8:00 am – @ 8:00 pm
Location: South San Francisco Conference Center

Chinese American Bio/Pharmaceutical Society (CABS) Honors Dr. Randy Schekman and Dr. Joseph C. Wu with the 2026 K. Fong Award in Life Sciences

South San Francisco, CA - The Chinese American Bio/Pharmaceutical Society (CABS) proudly announces Dr. Randy Schekman, Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Nobel Prize Laureate and Dr. Joseph C. Wu, Director of Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Stanford Universityas the recipients of the prestigious 2026 CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences. Marking the 13th anniversary of this esteemed accolade, the award honors Dr. Schekman and Dr. Wu for their exceptional contributions to research, education, and translational innovation. The award will be presented at the 2026 BioPacific Conference on September 19, 2026, at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

Dr. Randy Schekman

Dr. Randy Schekman is a Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  He studied the enzymology of DNA replication as a graduate student with Arthur Kornberg at Stanford University.  His current interest in cellular membranes developed during a postdoctoral period with S. J. Singer at the University of California, San Diego.  Among his awards are the Gairdner International Award, the Albert Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which he shared with James Rothman and Thomas Südhof.  He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, a Foreign Associate of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, a Foreign Associate of the Royal Society of London and an Honorary Academician of the Academia Sinica.   In 1999, he was elected President of the American Society for Cell Biology.  From 2002-2017, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Reviews of Cell and Developmental Biology.  From 2006 - 2011 he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the NAS.  In 2011, he founded and until 2019 served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Open Access journal, eLife, sponsored by the HHMI, Wellcome Trust and the Max Planck Society.  Beginning in 2019, Schekman became the scientific director of Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s, an effort supported by the Sergey Brin Family Foundation to identify and support basic research on the mechanisms of Parkinson’s Disease initiation and progression (https://parkinsonsroadmap.org).

Schekman’s laboratory investigates the mechanism of membrane protein traffic in the secretory pathway in eukaryotic cells.  Currently the lab investigates the mechanism of biogenesis and function of extracellular vesicles and the unconventional secretion of alpha-synuclein as a potential means of the spread of brain pathology in Parkinson’s Disease.

Dr. Joseph C. Wu

Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD is Director of Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Stanford University. Dr. Wu received his MD from Yale University and a PhD (Molecular & Medical Pharmacology) from University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently president of the Association of University Cardiologists (2026).

Dr. Wu’s research integrates genomics, stem cells/organoids, AI, and drug discovery. The main goals are to (i) understand fundamental disease mechanisms, (ii) advance precision medicine for patients, and (iii) accelerate drug discovery through “new alternative methodologies” (NAMs) and “clinical trial in a dish” (CTiD) concept.  Dr. Wu has published >700 manuscripts with H-index of 151 on Google scholar. He has been listed among the top 0.1% of highly cited researchers by Web of Science for 8 consecutive years (2018-2025).

Dr. Wu has received several awards, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NIH Roadmap Transformative Award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) given out by President Obama at the White House, American Heart Association (AHA) Distinguished Scientist Award, AHA Merit Award, and Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Innovation in Regulatory Science Award. Dr. Wu previously served as President of the American Heart Association (2023-2024) and was on the FDA Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee (2017-2025). He currently sits on the Boards of the Keystone Symposia, AHA, and Greenstone Biosciences (https://greenstonebio.com/), a startup that he co-founded which focuses on NAMs for drug discovery.

Dr. Wu is an elected member or fellow of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Association of University Cardiologists (AUC), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), American Association of Physicians (AAP), Academia Sinica (Taiwan), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering (AAASE), National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

CABS is honored to recognize Dr. Schekman and Dr. Wu’s outstanding achievements, which have advanced the frontiers of science and contributed to improved human health. Their commitment to rigorous research, education, and innovation exemplifies the values of the K. Fong Award in Life Sciences.

For media inquiries and press registration for the award ceremony, please contact: info@cabsweb.org.

About CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences

The CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences is an esteemed annual recognition presented to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the fields of 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.

Candidates eligible for this award must be nominated by an active member of CABS. Selection criteria are based on candidate’s accomplishments in life sciences and contribution to the life science community, including one or all of the following:

  • Proven achievements in therapeutic breakthroughs (including discovery, process, or clinical development), diagnostics or research reagent/equipment markets.

  • Significant contribution to the promotion of academic and industrial R&D in biomedical sciences and applications.

  • Significant contribution to the CABS community and promotion of international collaborations in life sciences.

The CABS K. Fong Award in Life Sciences aims to celebrate and honor exceptional individuals whose achievements and commitment have not only expanded the frontiers of life sciences but have also positively impacted global healthcare and well-being.

About Dr. Kenneth Fong

Dr. Kenneth Fong has spent the last 42 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 acquired by Becton Dickinson in 1999 and Ken has continued his career as a Venture capitalist with Kenson Ventures that he founded. He has since cultivated 12 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 15 companies that are worth more than $7 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 (2006-2007) 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 (2006-2013). 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 2003, 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 post-doctoral studies at UCLA & NIH.

Past recipients of CABS K. Fong Awards

2025. Dr.Liqun Luo, Ann and Bill Swindells Professor of Biology at Stanford University, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator for his outstanding achievements, which have advanced the frontiers of brain science and contributed to improved human health.

2024: Dr. Zach Sweeney, Venture Partner at Versant Ventures, CEO and co-founder of Interline Therapeutics, CSO at Denali Therapeutics for his exceptional contributions and transformative impact on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields.

2023:Dr. Corey Goodman, Managing Partner at venBio, for his groundbreaking discoveries in neural development and axon guidance, as well as his visionary leadership in translating science into successful biopharmaceutical ventures that have significantly advanced human health.

2022: Dr. Scott Liu, Founder and CEO of HanchorBio, for his outstanding and pioneering contribution to the development of multiple biologic products from research to launch.

2021: Dr. John O. Link, Vice President of Gilead Sciences for his work on the drug discovery of Hepatitis C inhibitors and the HIV Capsid Inhibitor; and Dr. Xian-Ping Lu, Chairman, CEO of Shenzhen Chipscreen Biosciences Co. LTD, for their extraordinary achievements in research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

2019:  John V. Oyler, Chairman, Co-Found and CEO of BeiGene, for his entrepreneurship and business leadership to establish BeiGene as a world-class biopharmaceutical company.

2018: Dr. Yuling Luo, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Alamar Biosciences (formerly the founder & CEO of Advanced Cell Diagnostics, ACD), and Dr. Guoliang Yu, Executive Chairman of Crown Bioscience, for their successful serial entrepreneurship in the life science business.  

2017: Dr.Yinxiang Wang, Co-founder and CSO of Beta Pharma, for his role in leading development and commercialization of Conmana®, the first small molecule oncology drug specifically targeting cancer cells that was completely developed in China; and Dr. Edgar Engleman, for his pioneering research that was the basis of the Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) prostate cancer vaccine, the first active immunotherapy for cancer to be approved by the FDA.

2016: Dr. Gerald Chan, Co-founder of Morningside, for his extraordinary vision and leadership in cultivating a generation of successful entrepreneurs and life sciences companies.

2015: Dr. Irving Weissman, Professor of Stanford University, for his pioneering work in stem cell research.

2014: Dr. Ge Li, Founder and CEO of Wuxi Apptec, for pioneering and shaping the CRO business model in China; and Dr. Hing L. Sham, formerly of Abbott for his leading role in the discovery of life-saving HIV protease inhibitors, ritonavir and Iopinavir.

2013: Dr. Peter Hirth of Plexxikon & Sugen for his pivotal role in advancing 4 successful drugs to the market; and Dr. Jean Cui, formerly of Pfizer for her role as the lead designer and investigator of crizotinib, a successful kinase inhibiting drug used in personalized medicine.





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