Dr. Soon-Shiong holds a degree in Medicine from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a Master of Science from the University of British Columbia. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is a noted research scientist as well as a physician and surgeon and has devoted his career to developing next-generation technology to enhance the medical care of patients with life-threatening diseases, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Dr. Soon-Shiong performed the world’s first encapsulated islet transplant in a diabetic patient and developed the nanoparticle delivery technology upon which the cremophor-free form of paclitaxel compound known as ABRAXANE is based. The FDA approved ABRAXANE in January 2005 for treatment of advanced stage metastatic breast cancer and it is being developed for lung, melanoma, gastric and pancreatic cancer. He is a co-inventor of over 50 issued U.S. patents and has published more than 100 scientific papers.

Dr. Soon-Shiong’s research has been recognized by noted organizations with numerous national and international awards such as the Association for Academic Surgery Award for Research, the American College of Surgeons Schering Scholar, the Royal College Physicians and Surgeons Research Award, the Peter Kiewit Distinguished Membership in Medicine Award, and the International J.W. Hyatt Award for Service to Mankind. Dr. Soon-Shiong received the 2006 Gilda Club Award for the advancement of cancer medicine and is a recipient of a 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor as well as the St. Mary Medical Center Life Achievement Award in 2007 and the St. John’s Health Center Caritas Award in 2007.

Dr. Soon-Shiong currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Institute of Transplantation as well as the Technology Council for the new Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Northwestern University which is part of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) five-year initiative for nanotechnology in cancer research. He also serves on two advisory boards for the RAND Corporation, the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy and the RAND Health Board of Advisors. Dr. Soon-Shiong recently joined the Board of Trustees for the Saint John’s Health Center in Los Angeles, California and the Advisory Board of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. He also recently joined the Advisory Board for the Institute for Technology Advancement (ITA) at UCLA School of Engineering & Applied Science, as well as the Board of Councilors of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

In 2008 he received the Medical Visionary Award from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network for his work in pancreatic cancer, and was appointed to the President’s Council at RAND Corporation. In 2009, he was appointed Chairman of the Steering Committee of Life Sciences of the X-Prize Foundation.