NCKU, BNL, and Aurora Sign MOU on Nov. 8th

• Press Release
• Source: National Cheng Kung University
• On 8:49 am EST, Tuesday November 10, 2009

TAINAN, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Gene-Jack Wang as the Chair of the Medical Department at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), on behalf of Dr. Samuel Aronson as the BNL’s Director, Mrs. Olivia Ho Cheng as the CEO of Aurora Imaging Technology Incorporation (Aurora), and Dr. Da-Hsuan Feng as the Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Taiwan, on behalf of NCKU President, Academician Michael Ming-Chiao Lai, together signed a Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Nov. 8th.

The three parties signed the MOU that describes how to recognize the desirability and mutual benefit of close cooperative relationships to further scientific and technological advancement in fields of interest. In addition, they also endeavor the exchange programs in areas of mutual interest and shared non-proprietary scientific and technical information together.

As tripartite agreed, the participants may schedule periodic technical reviews in specific fields of interest in order to maintain an awareness of one another’s activities in such fields. The participants may also schedule periodic reviews of the activities undertaken pursuant to this Memorandum of Understanding to assure it is meeting its intended objectives.

Dr. Feng highly appreciated the endeavors by Prof. Chuan-Pu Liu of Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Prof. Shu-Hui Chen of Department of Chemistry, to make the tripartite collaboration realized. Furthermore, seven years ago when still working in the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), Dr. Feng assumed the duty as a UTD Vice President, which gave him an opportunity to run the project about positron emission tomography (PET) in collaboration with University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. However, at that time PET was not so familiar to them, till the BNL Medical Department developed the first PET machine. The BNL Medical Department has made great effort in developing PET system. In addition, Aurora developed the AURORA Spiral RODEO™ Breast, the first and currently the only FDA-certified magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instrument for breast MRI, like mammogram, which provides early diagnosis of breast cancer at very early stage to save lives of many ill women. Gene and Olivia, both originally from Tainan, really hope to bring glory of these two achievements to all Tainan people. “It is a great and excited moment for NCKU to sign this MOU with both excellent institutions today. I really appreciated the support from Olivia and Gene,” said Dr. Feng.

Dr. Gene-Jack Wang commented that the mission of the BNL Medical Department is to use the basic research, to take the advantage in science, and then to apply them in human. BNL learned a lot from Aurora in image technology. Moreover, they closely cooperated with Aurora and developed a joint MRI/PET instrument. They had the same mission to involve in the cancer prevention. “It is my honor to come here, especially NCKU, where I had very good memory before. So it is a great opportunity that we can promote the new imaging system and the whole technology. We can also promote the whole medical imaging technology in Taiwan or around the Asia, and even to the world. Once again, it is a great honor for us to make the contribution to my homeland,” said Dr. Wang.

Mrs. Olivia Cheng commented that it will increase the sensitivity and specificity of the cancer prevention through MRI and PET technology. This is the main purpose of all the three parties to sign this MOU here. It is a great opportunity to collaborate with NCKU and looked forward in closer relationship for the future. “Aurora has been working with BNL for two years in developing this faucal type, and hopefully through the collaboration with NCKU, we can bring it in the fresh light,” said Mrs. Cheng.

About Dr. Gene-Jack Wang:

The information is contained in http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=06-118

Dr. Gene-Jack Wang received his M.D. from Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, in 1980, and a master's degree in radiation health sciences from the Johns Hopkins University in 1984. He joined Brookhaven's Medical Department in 1990 as an assistant scientist and rose through the ranks to become the clinical head of the PET imaging group in 1996 and a senior medical scientist in 2005. Since April 2005, he has served as Acting Chair of the Medical Department.

Dr. Wang is also an associate professor at Stony Brook University (the State University of New York at Stony Brook, SBU) as well as the Associate Director of the SBU-General Clinical Research Center at Brookhaven. He is a visiting scientist in the Division of Nuclear Medicine at North Shore University Hospital, attending physician in the Division of Nuclear Medicine at Glen Cove Hospital, and Professor of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University.

About Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)

The information is contained in http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/about_BNL.asp

BNL established in 1947 on Long Island, Upton, New York, Brookhaven is a multi-program national laboratory operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Six Nobel Prizes have been awarded for discoveries made at the Lab.

Brookhaven has a staff of approximately 3,000 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff and over 4,000 guest researchers annually.

BNL's role for the DOE is to produce excellent science and advanced technology with the cooperation, support, and appropriate involvement of our scientific and local communities. The fundamental elements of the Laboratory's role in support of the four DOE strategic missions are to conceive, design, construct, and operate complex, leading edge, user-oriented facilities in response to the needs of the DOE and the international community of users. Moreover, they also carried out basic and applied research in long-term, high-risk programs at the frontier of science, and developed advanced technologies that address national needs and to transfer them to other organizations and to the commercial sector. Also, they disseminated technical knowledge, to educate new generations of scientists and engineers, to maintain technical capabilities in the nation's workforce, and to encourage scientific awareness in the general public.

About Olivia Ho Cheng

The information is contained in http://www.auroramri.com/mri/management-team.php

Olivia Ho Cheng, a Taiwan native, earned her master’s degree in economics at UCLA. She started her career as an analyst at Getty Oil Company in Los Angeles and then entered banking in the mid-1980s to pursue a career with more opportunities for women. From 1991 to 1997, she served as a Senior Vice President of Far East National Bank in Southern California. In early 1998, she, with two partners, formed Pacific Republic Capital, a private equity fund specializing with investments in medical technology companies. During this period, she became known to medical companies desiring to expand the market for their products abroad and, particularly in Asia and the Pacific Rim countries, for her international trade acumen and expertise. Her attraction to international trade commenced while in banking as she assisted companies with working capital financing guaranteed by the Export Import Bank. Also, as a result of becoming known for promoting exporting activity for U.S. companies, she was invited to be a White House advisor on export policies.

Cheng is actively involved in leading the expansion of Aurora both domestically and internationally. The Company’s unique Aurora® 1.5T Dedicated Breast MRI System with Bilateral SpiralRODEO has proven to be a valuable tool in the management of breast cancer for breast care specialists in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of breast disease. Additionally, the Aurora System includes a fully integrated interventional system that is presently being used primarily for MRI guided biopsies and will eventually be used to guide treatment.

Since aggressive commercialization of the Aurora® 1.5T Dedicated Breast MRI System commenced in 2004, it has been installed in more than 20 breast care centers in the United States, Taiwan and Italy. In addition to the growing market in the United States, the Aurora System is experiencing strong interest from global markets and, therefore, the Company plans to systematically expand internationally. With its growing success and the attention being attracted, Cheng anticipates demand for the Aurora System to accelerate. Among its most compelling benefits, the Aurora System allows radiologists to view with impressive image clarity both breasts, the chest wall and the lymph nodes surrounding the breasts in an integrated manner without compromising quality.

Cheng became CEO of the North Andover; Massachusetts based Aurora in July 2003. She moved from California to Massachusetts so that she could devote her full energy and attention to the growth of the Company. She is also the honored president of Aurora Breast MRI Society. She and her husband, Dr. Ken Cheng, have been married for 26 years. Together they have two grown children, Joshua and Catherine.

About Aurora Imaging Technology, Incorporation (Aurora)

The information is contained in http://www.auroramri.com/mri/about-us.php

Aurora is a private company based in North Andover, Massachusetts committed to expanding the fight against breast cancer. We are committed to manufacturing the highest quality and most cost-effective breast MRI solution in partnership with the nation’s finest breast care centers. The Aurora® 1.5T Dedicated Breast MRI System with 3-D bilateral breast imaging provides the ultimate in the detection, diagnosis and biopsy of breast cancer available to clinicians and their patients. The Aurora System is in clinical use at a growing number of leading breast care centers around the world.

Aurora has one overriding mission: to develop the world’s most sensitive and accurate imaging systems for detecting and fighting breast cancer. This goal can best be achieved by exploiting technology to the fullest. Therefore, we are constantly searching for the best scientific and technological minds to assist us in our mission - a search that has culminated in the Aurora Advisory Board. We are confident that input from these outstanding individuals will enhance Aurora’s already-intensive research and development efforts.

About National Cheng Kung University (NCKU):

NCKU is located in the ancient city of Tainan, the historical and ancient cultural capital city of Taiwan, which boasts more than 50 national relics sanctioned by the government and is approximately 250 kilometers south of Taipei. It is connected to all major cities in Taiwan by the recently initiated state-of-the-art Taiwan High Speed Rail. Further, this historical heritage is the pride of Tainan City and represents a rich cultural resource to NCKU. The technological sectors in the Southern Taiwan Science Park offer students at NCKU with a stage to apply what they have learned into practice.

With three quarters of a century of distinguished history, with well over 130,000 powerful alumni now dotting the globe, many have achieved supreme successes in arts, business, education, science, technology and healthcare and are ready and willing to assist the 22,000 academic selective students and 1200 academic faculty members. Currently, both have an international flavor, with enormous regional support, and there is a permeating culture of proactive intellectual growth on the world’s stage. NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, has evolved from its engineering genesis into a powerful and comprehensive research international university in the Asia Pacific.

Since NCKU’s establishment in 1931, it has developed into a research intensive and comprehensive university with integrated academic fields in nine colleges: Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Planning & Design, Management, Social Sciences, Medicine, and Bioscience & Biotechnology. NCKU currently offers 40 undergraduate programs (excluding the Program of Bachelor’s Degree), 78 master’s degree programs, 54 doctoral programs and 20 master’s degree programs for working professionals.

Photo:

http://www.cna.com.tw/postwrite/cvpread.aspx?ID=42852

NCKU Press Officer
Julia (Ying-Chen) Liu, +886-6-275-7575 ext. 50042
yingchen@mail.ncku.edu.tw