NTU honors alumni, awards honorary degrees

Academia Sinica President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), who helped strengthen Taiwan’s disease-control system following the 2003 SARS outbreak, received National Taiwan University’s (NTU) Distinguished Alumni Award yesterday.

Speaking on behalf of the nine recipients at a ceremony marking NTU’s 98th anniversary, Chen said he hoped to continue being “the salt of the earth and the light of the world,” a biblical expression referring to the role of believers in society.

Chen, who served as Taiwan’s vice president from 2016 to 2020, is an epidemiologist known for his research on Blackfoot disease, chronic arsenic poisoning and liver cancer.

Academia Sinica president Chen Chien-jen, right, delivers remarks on behalf of nine distinguished alumni honored by National Taiwan University (NTU) during a ceremony yesterday celebrating the school’s 98th anniversary. At the event, NTU president Chen Wen-chang, first row, third left, also conferred an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree on Fubon Financial Holding chairman Richard Tsai, first row, left, and an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree on Garmin chairman Min Kao, first row, second left.

Photo: CNA

Recalling his student days at NTU, he said his education had given him not only professional knowledge but also values such as integrity, diligence and a commitment to serving the country and its people.

Drawing on his experience as a scientist in public service, Chen said decisions should be based on scientific evidence rather than being unduly influenced by political considerations.

He said disease-control measures and institutional reforms introduced during the 2003 SARS outbreak proved valuable when COVID-19 emerged in 2019, providing an important foundation for Taiwan’s pandemic response.

Chen earned a master’s degree in public health from NTU’s Graduate Institute of Public Health in 1977 and has devoted much of his career to research in epidemiology, environmental health and public health, according to Academia Sinica.

In a statement yesterday, the academy said Chen received the award in the academic category, one of five categories under NTU’s Distinguished Alumni Award program.

His pioneering research on Blackfoot disease and chronic arsenic poisoning helped establish scientific evidence linking exposure to arsenic-contaminated drinking water with health risks and provided an important basis for drinking-water safety standards, it said.

The other eight recipients of the 2026 NTU Distinguished Alumni Award included poet Wang Mei-chin (王美琴) and physicist Chen Liu (陳騮), a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, as well as three recipients in business and industry, one in social service and two in the general contributions category.

Established in 2006, the award recognizes alumni for outstanding achievements and contributions to the university and society. Its five categories are humanities and arts, academia, business and industry, social service, and general contributions.

At the event, NTU president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) also conferred an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree on Fubon Financial Holding Chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) and an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree to Garmin Chairman Min Kao (高民環), in recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions.