Patrick Soon-Shiong was born in Port Elizabeth, a South African city, where his parents choose to settle during the World War II that was going on throughout China and affected also Taishan – their hometown Taishan located in the Guangdong region. Descending from Chinese parents, the young Patrick Soon Shiong, graduated from University of Witwatersrand with a high score at the age of 23, continuing afterwards his medical studies at the University of British Columbia. During his residency years, Patrick Soon – Shiong was captured by the magical world of cells, regeneration techniques and organ transplants; spending his free time on research.
He received the surgeon diploma from the UCLA ( University of LA ) and in 1993 became the first surgeon in the world that was able to perform a Langerhans cell transplant for a patient suffering of Type 1 diabetes. Patrick Soon Shiong holds a large number of patents and medical studies giving a real fight in finding a cure for cancer and diabetes ( two of the most common diseases of our gengeration). Inventing “Abraxane” ( delivered from a protein ) to treat breast cancer in metastatic stage, Dr. Soon Shiong was able to bring hope and confidence for suffering patients. Nowadays, Abraxane is available in a large number of countries, and scientists are trying to use Abraxane’s principles in order to cure other types of cancer such as : lung cancer, pancreatic or even gastric cancer.
This invention was also the starting point which made Patrick Soon Shiong become a billionaire after selling his two medical companies : APP ( American Pharma Partners ) and Abraxis Science. Both of his companies were being estimated at nearly 9 billion $ and transformed him into the richest doctor in the world. Soon Shiong’s current company – NantHealth, aims to establish the highest performance in computerized tumor analysis with the help of high tech machines and DNA Sequencers. The possibility in finding a cure for cancer lies in the hands of scientists and doctors like Patrick Soon Shiong who are willing to spend all of their fortune in making the world better.