Appointment of ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences

The Holy Father has appointed the distinguished Professor Chien-Jen Chen, lecturer in epidemiology at the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan, as an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Curriculum vitae

Professor Chien-Jen Chen was born on June 6, 1951, in Cishan, Taiwan. After studying at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, he received his PhD in human genetics and epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States of America. In the Government of the Republic of China, he has held the following public positions: Minister of Health (2003-2005); minister of the National Science Council (2006-2008); and Vice President (2016-2020). Professor Chen has taught and conducted research in the fields of epidemiology, preventive medicine, public health, and human genetics. He is currently an Academician of the Academia Sinica in Taipei, of which he was also vice President from 2011 to 2015.

Chien-Jen Chen is an epidemiologist recognized for his work on long-term health hazards of environmental agents including arsenic and oncogenic viruses, according to the National Academy of Sciences. He is known particularly for his studies on health risk assessment of arsenic in drinking water that has led WHO and US EPA to set up a new maximal contamination level to protect global health, and on cancer risk calculators for chronic infection of hepatitis viruses, Epstein-Barr virus, and human papillomavirus. Chen was born in Kaohsiung City and grew up in Taipei City in Taiwan. He graduated from National Taiwan University with a BSc degree in zoology and a MPH degree in public health and from Johns Hopkins University in 1982 with a ScD in epidemiology and human genetics. He joined the faculty of National Taiwan University College of Medicine in 1977. He was the founding director of the Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Dean of College of Public Health of National Taiwan University and vice president of Academia Sinica. He has been president of the Taiwan Public Health Association and of the Taiwan Epidemiological Association and is a member of Academia Sinica and World Academy of Sciences and a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences.