October 21, 2012

Dear Members,

It is a great honor for me to be elected and appointed as the president of Asian Federation of Biotechnology for the term Oct. 2012-Sept. 2016. First of all, I would like to express my deep appreciation to AFOB vice presidents in 13 member regions, executive board members, advisory board members and all of AFOB members for their support and endorsement for my appointment. I would also like to thank AFOB’s 1^st President Prof. Toshiomi Yoshida and 1^st Secretary General Prof. Jung-Keug Park on behalf of all of us for their tireless leadership and devotion for the development of AFOB.

Here, as the new President of AFOB, I would like to share my initial thoughts with all of our members as we prepare to confront together the major challenges we face together in the coming years.

1.      Invigorate AFOB Divisions: to be a leading global biotechnology organization, AFOB should establish various academic Divisions covering all areas of applied biotechnology.

2.      BTJ: as an initial collaboration with Wiley, AFOB has opportunities to publish two special issues within BTJ as well as some news in the BiotechVisions. It is a good chance for our members to expand visibility in the world.

3.      Co-hosting seminars with other societies: AFOB and its Divisions would like to (co-)host various seminars or symposia with neighbor societies as well as European and American ones.

4.      Build financial integrity: AFOB, as a non-profit organization, needs to collect funds for supporting the members and activities. We invite donation from companies/organizations and individuals, who are appreciated with good acknowledgement such as scholarship, lectureship, etc.

5.      Expand AFOB membership and member regions: we hope to cover more as Asian regions as possible, and we also expect to have a large increase in the individual/organization membership during the term 2012-2016. With a global vision we certainly welcome membership applications from Europe, America, and other Continents.

In a word, the support and cooperation from our every member will be greatly appreciated since it is your trust that I need and will value the most as I take over the heavy responsibility of President.

Best regards,

Ho Nam Chang, Ph D

President of AFOB (Asian Federation of Biotechnology)