Dr. Hong, who earned his Ph.D. at UMass Amherst in Veterinary and Animal Sciences in 1973, has brought international distinction to his alma mater. A former faculty member at Medical University of South Carolina, he was invited by Taiwan's National Science Council to help establish its Center for Toxicity and Preclinical Sciences and to serve as the director of Taiwan's National Laboratory Animal Breeding and Research Center. A faculty member of National Taiwan University and the Academia Sinica, he was also President of the Chinese Society of Laboratory Animal Sciences and a member of Taiwan's Development Center for Biotechnology.
The endowed fund will also honor the role of the brothers’ mother, Frances Hong, in supporting the family and in helping their children to pursue successful careers in finance and computer science. Mrs. Hong left her own career as an middle school teacher in Taiwan to join her husband during his studies in Amherst and later returned to school to earn a degree in accounting.
Hoi Chang Lee, the first recipient of the Frances and Chou-Chu Hong Graduate Fellowship in Veterinary and Animal Sciences, was introduced at a luncheon honoring the Hong family on September 17, 2014. Lee, a Ph.D. candidate working with department head, Dr. Rafael Fissore, is writing his dissertation on signaling mechanisms underlying mammalian fertilization.
Another special guest at the event was Janna Sevoian Aldrich, daughter of Dr. Martin Sevoian, Dr. Hong's faculty advisor during his graduate years at UMass Amherst.
Veterinary and Animal Sciences