In 2010, WITSA established its highest decoration called the WITSA Eminent Person Award
to honor and recognize those individuals who have made a significant and profound
positive difference in the lives of others.
These deserving individuals who have come from within the tech industry include the
co-Fathers of the Internet Dr. Vinton Cerf and Dr. Bob Kahn, the Fathers of Wi-Fi Dr. John
O’Sullivan and Dr. Terence Percival as well as Dr. Miguel Angelo Laporta Nicolelis, best
known for his pioneering work surrounding brain-machine interface technology. Other
recent inductees include Dato’ Hock E. Tan, President and CEO of Broadcom, and Dr. Lisa
Su, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Advanced Micro Devices. And from the
public sector leadership, which had given WITSA illustrious recipients like WITSA’s first
Eminent Person Dr. Nelson Mandela and subsequent ones like the Rt. Honorable Tun Dr.
Mahathir Mohamed, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia.
In 2024, WITSA had the distinct pleasure of adding an additional special inductee to WITSA’s
honor roll of Eminent Persons.
Dr. Garo Armen is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Agenus Inc., a biotechnology
company he co-founded in 1994, focused on pioneering immunotherapies to fight cancer.
One of Agenus’ most groundbreaking achievements is the development of the BOT/BAL
combination therapy, which has demonstrated remarkable success in difficult-to-treat
cancers, including metastatic colorectal cancer. This therapy reawakens the immune
system’s natural ability to fight cancer, representing a significant advancement in the
treatment of cancers that were once considered insurmountable.
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