Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D. and Michele B. Chan Join Prestigious List of Recipients of KCET Visionary Award at 10th Gala Honoring Region's Philanthropic Leaders

LOS ANGELES, May 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Esteemed Angelenos Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D. and his wife Michele B. Chan will be presented with the 10th KCET Visionary Award at the Los Angeles PBS station's 2010 Gala celebration on Tuesday, June 8, 6:00 p.m., at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, it has been announced by Al Jerome, KCET president and CEO. The KCET Visionary Award honors individuals who have made unique and visionary contributions to improving the lives of others through their support of arts and culture, healthcare, education and the well being of children. This year's honorees are internationally acclaimed for transformational developments in medicine and innovative approaches to healthcare that benefit individuals from all walks of life, locally and around the world. Dr. Soon-Shiong has conceived and created new lifesaving drugs and medical treatments in addition to transforming the model of health delivery systems.

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The evening will include live entertainment, an elegant gourmet dinner and a presentation ceremony. The Gala Co-Chairs are past KCET Visionary honorees Eli Broad, Richard Riordan, Marion and John Anderson, Kelly and Robert Day, Kathryn and Steven Sample, Tina and Rick Caruso, Diane and Bob Malone, and Bernadette and Tim Leiweke. It is highly anticipated that prominent business colleagues, community leaders and celebrity guests will join KCET in honoring the couple.

"KCET is proud to honor Patrick Soon-Shiong and Michele B. Chan with the 10th KCET Visionary Award," said Al Jerome, KCET President and CEO. "Their commitment to making a difference in the lives of others through their trailblazing support of medical advances and access to quality healthcare is an inspiration to us all. On behalf of KCET and its Board of Directors, we look forward to celebrating their visionary accomplishments in Los Angeles, across the country and around the world."  

Raised in South Africa under apartheid, Dr. Soon-Shiong and Ms. Chan experienced the challenges of discrimination early in life and dedicated themselves to closing disparity gaps that exist in the world through a shared belief that defying conventional wisdom leads to the kind of innovation that makes a real difference in people's lives.

A renowned physician, surgeon, inventor, scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Dr. Soon-Shiong has been at the forefront of numerous developments. He believes that patients should be empowered to own and control their own healthcare data, and should control portability of that data between care providers in order to receive the best possible healthcare. His work in this field has resulted in the establishment of an integrated health information platform and the founding of National Coalition for Health Integration (NCHI) to create a national health network for the secure, national sharing of health information. He pioneered the revolutionary anticancer drug Abraxane® in January 2005 for treatment of metastatic breast cancer; it is also being developed for the treatment of lung, melanoma, pancreatic, and other hard to treat cancers. As founder and executive chairman of the global pharmaceutical company Abraxis BioScience, Inc., he pursues his commitment to treating the patient not the disease through new discoveries based on an individual's unique genetic code as well as advocating for healthcare reform that incentivizes physicians to keep patients healthy rather than incentivizing them to administer a maximum number of tests and procedures.

Among numerous affiliations, Dr. Soon-Shiong sits on the RAND Health Board of Advisors and the President's Council at RAND, and he is a founding board member of the Dossia Foundation.  Recent awards include the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2007, the National Library of Medicine's Distinguished Medical Science Award in 2010, the Los Angeles Business Journal 2010 Business Person of the Year and the Partners in Care Foundation's Champion for Health Award.  Nationally recognized for his contributions to medicine he was ranked #12 on Modern Healthcare's 2010 "50 Most Powerful Physician Executives."

Ms. Chan, a former film and television actress, not only supported her husband early in his career, she continues to actively support the healthcare community. Her interests include the areas of women's health, complementary and integrative medicine and neuroscience – all of which play a role in her efforts on behalf of Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica.  

As founders of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, the couple has generously supported St. John's Health Center and the project underway to re-open the beleaguered Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Hospital in Los Angeles. With their support, Saint John's opened the Chan Soon-Shiong Center for life sciences, a next-generation facility for practicing 21st century medicine in 2005. Their commitment to MLK Hospital enabled the University of California Board of Regents to enter into a partnership with Los Angeles County to create a private, nonprofit corporation that will reopen the hospital in phases beginning in late 2012. They continually demonstrate a commitment to improving access to quality healthcare for those who cannot otherwise afford it.

Together their vision and mission is straightforward: to think globally and act locally by finding the common thread that connects throughout and expand the work they do in the United States to all parts of the world. Ultimately they believe that successful healthcare initiatives are one path toward achieving greater international diplomacy.  

The 10th KCET Visionary Award Gala will also celebrate past honorees.  With the presentation of the 2010 KCET Visionary Award, Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D. and Michele B. Chan join a stellar group of past visionaries that includes Eli Broad, Nancy Daly and Richard Riordan, Marion and John Anderson, Barbara and Stephen Bollenbach, Kelly and Robert Day, Kathryn and Steven Sample, Tina and Rick Caruso, Diane and Bob Malone, and Bernadette and Tim Leiweke. More than $9 million has been raised from the previous nine galas to support KCET.  

Individual and table ticket prices to the KCET Visionary Award Gala begin at $1,000.  Sponsorship- and patron-level packages are also available.  Please contact Nancy Rishagen at KCET (323) 953-5429 for additional information about pricing, package details and reservations.

About KCET  

On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central California. More than four million viewers watch KCET in the average month. KCET is the most-watched PBS station in Southern California and the second most-watched public television station in the nation. KCET has the largest geographic reach of any PBS station in California.

National PBS series produced from the station's Hollywood studios include four-time NAACP Award winner Tavis Smiley and the Peabody Award-winning series A Place Of Our Own and Los Ninos En Su Casa. The educational animated series Sid The Science Kid is co-produced for PBS by KCET and The Jim Henson Company. KCET also produces the Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning SoCal Connected, a hard-hitting prime-time weekly television news program that examines the issues and people of Southern California.

Throughout its more than 40-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's programs, its outreach and community services and its Web site, kcet.org.

KCET is a donor-supported community institution. More than half of the funds raised to support KCET's operating budget come from individual support. For additional information about KCET productions, Web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org.

SOURCE KCET