One such example came to light recently when Alan Andersen mentioned in his e-mail update that Yongkai Weng, Ph.D., appears to hold the title of most far-flung FDAAA member since she’s now living in Beijing. Dr. Weng worked in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research for 11 years before taking early retirement in June. She returned to her native China to do charity work part-time and to develop a training program for public health officials.
When FDAAA member Larry Pilot read that notice, he contacted Andersen to find out how he could get in touch with Weng. “I travel to Beijing and would like to have her as a contact,” he said.
Andersen provided Pilot with Weng’s e-mail address and the former medical device compliance chief followed up. “As a member of the FDAAA, I received notice of your move to Beijing and asked Alan for contact information,” Pilot wrote. “I have been to Beijing many times, including visits with a colleague, Fred Ma, M.D., Ph.D., of Medical Quality International. Because Dr. Ma is presently in Beijing, I am forwarding this message in the event that there may interest in making contact about matters for which I believe we may have mutual interests.”
Soon thereafter, Dr. Weng e-mailed back to Larry, thanking him for the introduction to Dr. Ma. “I am currently working at the China Population and Development Research Center as director of National Training Program for Public Health,” she wrote. “We will train 1.9 million family planning staff to transform as health consultants in the next five years. The training program will provide health education on disease awareness and prevention (including HIV/AIDS), mental health and environmental protection relating to health concerns.”
She added that another of her pursuits is to “collaborate with Peking University, Tianjing University, and China SFDA about development, evaluation, and management of biomedicine…using my FDA experience.”
She also noted that Carl Peck, M.D., former director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, and currently director of the Center for Drug Development Science at the University of California, San Francisco, had come to China recently. Together, they visited several pharmaceutical companies and universities in Beijing and Shanghai and discussed possible collaboration, she said.
While FDAAA can’t promise networking opportunities half a world away for every one of our members, there’s no better way to keep in touch with your former Agency colleagues than through membership in the association. If you’re interested in joining (or if you know of another former FDAer who’s not yet a member), signing up is as easy as clicking on this link.