TABA Officers
Glenn Kao(高亮星), Ph.D.
President
Board Director
Dr. Kao is a principal scientist and department manager of pharmaceutical sciences at Allergan Pharmaceuticals. He has 21 years of experience in regulatory affairs, QA, pharmaceutical sciences operations, R&D, and management. He has institutionalized the reference standards program and the drug substance program for Allergan. He also authored the Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) portion of BOTOX and 12 other Allergan products. Prior to joining Allergan, Dr. Kao was a senior scientist in product development and QA analytical development at Herbert Laboratories. He was also an associate scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Kao received his Ph.D. from University of Washington, Seattle, and his B.S. degree from National Taiwan University.
Yie-Wen Chien(簡逸文), Ph.D.
Vice President
Board Director
Dr. Chien is currently the Founding Director of Innovative Therapeutics Research Center and a Chair Professor at Kaohsiung Medical University. He specializes in the science and technology of rate-controlled pharmaceutical delivery, research and development of biotech-produced biopharmaceuticals, and pharmaceutical R & D and management. Prior to his return to KMU, his alma mater, as the Provost for University R & D, Dr. Chien had been the Parke-Davis Chair Professor in Controlled Drug Delivery, Director of Controlled Drug Delivery Research Center, chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutics and Clinical Sciences at Rutgers University from 1981-1999, during which he had trained 41 PhD-level pharmaceutical scientists. He was also a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) and a mentor to WHO scholars. Dr. Chien was one of the early Pharmacy graduates from Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan, and received his Ph.D. in pharmaceutics from Ohio State University in USA.
Helen Y Chen(陳以芳), Ph.D.
Secretary
Board Director
Helen Chen currently serves as the vice president of business development of Ambryx Biotechnology, Inc, a leader in anti-obesity therapeutics. Prior to joining Ambryx, Dr. Chen was a project analyst at Beachhead Consulting, a strategic advisor to many of the companies specializing in drug discovery tools development. She was also the co-founder and partner of the Technology Evaluation Group, a consulting firm that specializes in the technology assessment of pharmaceutical compounds and medical devices for venture capitalists and biotech start-up companies. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, and her B.S. degree from Yale University.
Jenny Chen, Ph.D.
Treasurer
Board Director
Currently a real estate investor and licensed realtor in California. She has sold homes worth a total of over 15 million dollars over the past two years and has received many awards. She is also a CEO in a start-up biotech company located in San Diego, which is now developing herbal drugs. She recieved a Ph.D. in Nutritional Science from Michigan State University majoring in the study of obesity. Later, she joined (in chronological order) Stanford University and City of Hope for her postdoc research training in type two diabetes and obesity. As a scientist, she then joined the Genset Corporation in San Diego, developing a potential protein drug for treating type two diabetes. Following this, she went on to develop potential anti-sense drugs to aid the treatment of type two diabetes as a senior scientest at Isis Pharmaceutical in Carlsbad. Her career has undergone a transformation from R&D to business, and she is pleased to join TABA and serve as its treasurer.
Joseph Chou(周信結), Ph.D.
Public Relations Director
Board Director
Joseph Chou is an R&D engineer in the Image & Printing Division of Hewlett-Packard, specializing in the design of cartridges and printers for business applications, both large and small formats. He was a research faculty from Lehigh University before he joined H.P. Dr. Chou is actively involved in the community. He is currently the president of the Taiwanese American Chambers of Commerce, San Diego, executive board of director and treasurer of the Asian Business Association of San Diego, and the board of director of the Taiwanese American Community Center. Dr. Chou received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the National Taiwan University and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla.
Michael Wu(吳啟錚), Ph.D.
Program Director
Board Director
Michael Wu has led his team to focus on optimizing high-throughput morphometric analysis and digital brain mapping of the neurological disorders, such as the Alzheimer's disease and strokes. He incorporates automated 3D neuro-imaging and computational modeling techniques to visualize and quantify morphology of pathologic brains, including neurons and dendritic spines. Michael Wu is in the position of Assistant Neuroscientist, specialized in (visual) neural plasticity and ontogenesis, at the Dept of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego (USCD). He served as a Research Scientist, specialized in in-vivo transplantation for neural regeneration at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Michael Wu is actively involved in organizing international biotech forum as well as marketing and strategic planning for start-ups. Michael Wu obtained his BA degree from Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taiwan, and his doctorate degree at UCSD.
Richard Lin(林孜平), Ph.D.
Board Director
Richard Lin is currently the president of Explora BioLabs, a contract research company specializing in in vivo pharmacology research. Prior to founding Explora, he was a Scientific Investigator at Ansata Therapeutics, where he conducted research on molecular transduction using a variety of animal models for oncology and neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to joining Ansata, Dr. Lin was the head of the Physiology Department of Genset Corporation, where he led the efforts to determine the in vivo functions of Genset's lead therapeutic proteins in the areas of obesity and diabetes. In addition to experience in preclinical drug development, Dr. Lin has background in mammalian molecular genetics and cancer biology.
Be-Sheng Kuo(郭必盛), Ph.D.
Board Director
Be-Sheng Kuo is currently the senior director of pre-clinical development at AbGenomics Corp. in Taiwan. He has 17 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development, specializing in preclinical development of both therapeutic and small molecule drugs. He has authored more than 30 scientific publications. Before returning to Taiwan, Dr. Kuo held positions at various U.S. pharmaceutical companies, including Biogen Idec, Pfizer and Aventis. Dr. Kuo received his B.S. in Pharmacy from Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, and his Ph.D. in biopharmaceutics from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hann-Ping Wang(王漢平), Ph.D.
Board Director
Hann-Ping Wang is the President and CEO of Vitrotech Biomedical, Inc. in Orange County, California, a consulting firm providing services to the biotech industry in product design and development, and quality system development and compliance with an emphasis on design control, production and process control, test method and process validation, corrective and preventive action (CAPA) and document control. He has over 25 years management and leadership experience in the medical device/diagnostic industry. His most notable contributions have been to E.I. du Pont deNemour and Beckman Coulter where he developed a number of immunoassay tests in different formats for various pathological and physiological states. Dr. Wang holds a B.S. degree in food science and a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and received his post-doctoral training in clinical chemistry and immunochemistry.
Luby Liao(廖祿培), Ph.D.
IT Director
Luby Liao is a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Sciences at the University of San Diego (USD). He obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Washington University, St. Louis, MO in 1978; and MS in Computer Science from UCSD in 1989. After stepping down as the chair of the Math/CS Department of USD in 2001, he has been active in Web and Content Management System development.