Covid19: SA Born Entrepreneur Patrick Soon Shiong To Deliver Memorial Lecture
- Serial entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong will this year deliver the Botlhale Orenstein Memorial Lecture
- Titled 21st-century medicine during the Covid-19 pandemic, Soon-Shiong will explore how technology has been adapted to respond to the coronavirus
- Soon-Shiong recently announced an innovative collaboration to build capacity for health care in Africa, including cancer treatment
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The South African-born US-based medical science entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong will deliver the Botlhale Orenstein Memorial Lecture at Wits University on Wednesday, 6 October.
The lecture series is one of the most important public lectures delivered at the Wits University Faculty of Health Sciences.
Source: Facebook
"Botlhale", which means wisdom in Sesotho, was added to the eponym Orenstein to commemorate the principles of the significance of excellence that the speakers in the lecture have and continue to represent.
The lecture, titled Cutting edge technology and 21st-century medicine during the Covid-19 pandemic, will explore how technology has been adapted to respond to the coronavirus.
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The event will be hosted by the chair of the Adler Museum Board professor Daynia Ballot, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences professor Shabir Madhi, and president of the Health Graduates' Association Dr Paul Davis.
Capacity building for advanced healthcare
Last month, Soon-Shiong announced the launch of an ambitious initiative to build capacity for innovative health care in Africa.
The initiative, under the auspices of his company NantWorks, a multinational, California-based conglomerate, entails a partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC).
Briefly News reported that Soon-Shiong's other company, ImmunityBio Inc., which develops therapies to kill cancer, is conducting trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa.
Exponential wealth derived from cancer innovation
The company has held discussions with the Biovac Institute in Cape Town to potentially open vaccine production facilities.
At least three local Universities will be in the mix. Soon-Shiong was born in Gqeberha and has to date amassed a fortune in excess of $11 bn (R162 billion), according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.
His fortune is owed to his pioneering cancer treatment drug Abraxane. Producing the drug in the US, Soon-Shiong has sold two firms for a combined $7.4 bn (R109.2 billion).
Ramaphosa assures vaccine doesn't affect reproductive health
In recent related news, Briefly News reported that addressing a popular myth around the Covid-19 vaccine, President Cyril Ramaphosa assured citizens that it does not cause infertility in women and erectile dysfunction in men.
Ramaphosa made the remarks amid a campaign trail visit for the African National Congress (ANC) in Nelson Mandela Bay on Sunday, TimesLIVE reported.
Ramaphosa earlier on Monday encouraged a greater response to the vaccine and called on South Africans to take a more proactive stance in the fight against Covid-19.
“The vaccine does not affect your reproductive health and fertility. Don’t give in to those claims.
"They are simply not true. Your ability to have children after getting vaccinated will not be affected," explained Ramaphosa.
“It is not true that if you're a man and you get vaccinated, things will turn sour at home, as others say. Things will remain the way they were. So, go and get the vaccine.”
Source: Briefly News
