2021 TAAB Symposium
Dear 2021 TAAB Symposium Participants,
On behalf of the Taiwanese American Association of Biotechnology (TAAB), I sincerely welcome you to the 2021 TAAB Symposium. This is an illuminating year for pharmaceuticals and biotechnology-related fields. Professionals from the industry and academia demonstrated to the world that together, we can design, develop and manufacture efficacious vaccines at a lightning speed. However, we cannot help but wonder – what about other diseases? Could we also tackle them in such cooperative efforts?
With the vaccination rate steadily increasing and appropriate safety measures in place, we think the time is right for us to get together in person – introducing essential concepts of drug discovery and development to answer the above questions in the 2021 TAAB Symposium will be a great start. More importantly, we decided to have the meeting set up both virtually and in person. It is not because we let our guards down from the pandemic; instead, we think it is time to invite participants to meet friendly faces again and have a warm networking event. During the symposium preparation, we also tried something different. We publicized our symposium preparation committee online and recruited many talented volunteers both from US and Taiwan. Dedication from our volunteers has made the 2021 TAAB Symposium the fruit of successful team efforts, and I am honored to be part of it.
The 2021 TAAB Symposium is divided into two sessions – the main session and the career development session. The main session covers our keynote speech by Dr. Judy Chou and concise yet informative talks on nonclinical, clinical and CMC development processes. We also created a career map that aims to help young professionals to contemplate their opportunities and advances in the market that favors employees this year. The goal of the 2021 TAAB symposium is also for participants to network with other seasoned professionals; therefore, we invited more than twenty-five speakers as our panelists and speakers for the breakout sessions. Topics range from wet lab to dry lab, clinical regulatory to product manufacturing, job-hunting, career advancement as well as immigration legal consultation.
We also recognize the importance and benefits of effective communication in the American workplace, so we have a unique workshop dedicated to honing this skill. With these sessions and networking events, we hope to create a friendly and professional environment for participants to gain new knowledge and make new friends.
Again, I appreciate all the work done by the Symposium Committee, and I look forward to seeing you all at the 2021 TAAB Symposium.
Cheers,
Chunta Ho
2021 TAAB Symposium Chair; TAAB Board Member