2008 CAFA Awards

Professor Amy Lee's scientific background is in cellular and molecular biology, applied to the field of cancer research. Dr. Lee graduated in 1970 with a RA. in Bacteriology and Immunology (class valedictorian) from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biology from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA in 1975 and continued her postdoctoral training there in molecular genetics. She joined the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1979 as Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and was promoted to Professor in 1988. From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Lee served as Director of the Gene Regulation Program at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is one of 39 centers in the U.S. designated by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. In 1997, she was appointed Associate Director of Basic Science, serving as member of the executive committee of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and providing leadership for the Basic Science research programs and technology support facilities for the Norris Cancer Center. Dr. Lee is currently holder of the Judy and Larry Freeman Cosmetics Chair in Basic Science in Cancer Research at USC.

While Dr. Amy Lee was trained as a microbiologist and molecular geneticist during her doctoral and postdoctoral years, when she set up her own laboratory at USC, she pioneered an entirely new field of study now referred to as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which leads to an evolutionarily conserved adaptive response known as the unfolded protein response (UPR). The ER is the place in the cell where all the proteins that will ultimately be secreted or expressed on the cells' surface are synthesized; it is also where calcium is stored. In the case of cancer, the UPR allows cancer cells to escape from immune surveillance and confers resistance to therapeutic treatments. Dr. Lee's laboratory is the first to clone the genes coding for a set of ER stress-inducible proteins (GRP) which are regulated by glucose, oxygen and calcium in 1980 and during the past two decades has made numerous discoveries in understanding how these genes are regulated and their role in development, cancer and resistance to therapy, neurodegeneration and metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Dr. Lee is widely recognized as a leader in ER stress and her basic ground breaking research has yielded exciting novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to diseases.

For her research achievements, Dr. Lee has received the American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Award in 1980, the USC University Scholar Award in 1983 and the American Cancer Society's Faculty Research Award in 1983. In recognition of the outstanding scientific merit and productivity of her research program, she received the prestigious MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute in 1988. She was placed at the top 3 percentile of NIH grantees for extramural NIH funding over the last 25 years. Her research has recently been highlighted in Nature, Science, and Lancet Oncology. Dr. Lee has trained over 35 doctoral students and 25 research fellows and published over 150 research articles. She has given many invited talks at national and international meetings. Dr. Lee has served extensively on advisory and review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society, as well as consulting the biotechnology sector. In recognition of her pioneering work on ER stress and its impact on cell and cancer biology, she was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences in 2006.

Service Award - Professor Lianlian Lin

Dr. Lian1ian Lin is Professor of Management at Management and Human Resources Department, California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She received her Ph. D. degree in business administration from University of Texas at Austin, LL.M. degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School, Master degree in International Finance from Fudan University, and Bachelor degree in Economics from Liaoning University, China. She was visiting professor at Peking University - Guanghua School of Management and Beida-Shenzhen Graduate School of Business. She frequently teaches advanced management training courses to Chinese managers and administrators. She was law faculty at Fudan University before coming to the US.

Dr. Lin is very active academically and professionally in various roles such as presenter, discussant, session chair, textbook reviewer, referee, editor, leader, and expert speaker on newspapers, radio and TV. She published articles both in English and in Chinese about management, international business, and law. Her articles appeared in top journals such as Yale Journal of International Law, Journal of University of Pennsylvania International Economic Law, and World Economy Journal as well as in books. Her article was on Top Ten Hit List for Intellectual Property Law at the US Social Science Research Network.

Professor Lin has involved in CAFA activities for over ten years and served as CAFA President during 2002-03. She is currently President of CAFA Scholarship Foundation since 2005 and working diligently for fundraising. She was President of Asia Pacific Faculty Staff Student Association at Ca1 Poly Pomona (2001-02), President of Chinese Scholars Association in Southern California (2004-05), and Chair of the Retention, Tenure, and Promotion Committee in her Department (2006-07). She received Outstanding Leadership Award and Public Service Award from professional organizations. Her profile has been included in several Who's Who reference books such as Marques series, the American Biographical Institute, Cambridge International Biographical Center, Dictionary ofInternationa1 Chinese-American Who's Who in the U.S.A., and Dreams Come True - 100 Outstanding Chinese in USA.

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