Distinguished Alumni Awards

KGI Distinguished Alumni Awards

Title Sponsor: RBC logo

Friday, October 2, 2026

2026 Honorees

Jenny Sheng headshot
Professional Achievement Award Recipient

Jenny Sheng, MBS '09

About Jenny
Erin White headshot
Professional Achievement Award Recipient

Erin White, PPC '12, MBS '13

About Erin
Jennifer Wong headshot
Professional Achievement Award Recipient

Jennifer Wong, MBS '08

About Jennifer
Richard Cale headshot
Early Career Impact Award Recipient

Richard Cale, PharmD '21

About Richard
Stephen Chang headshot
Volunteer Service Award Recipient

Stephen Chang, MBS '08

About Stephen

Founded in 2025, the KGI Distinguished Alumni Awards celebrate graduates who exemplify the Institute’s mission through exceptional professional achievement, leadership, and service.

These awards honor alumni who are driving impact across the life sciences, biotech, healthcare, and research sectors—bridging scientific innovation with business insight. They also recognize those who demonstrate entrepreneurial vision, uplift the KGI community through mentorship and volunteerism, and make meaningful contributions locally and globally.

Together, these honorees reflect the legacy and future of KGI: alumni transforming the world through innovation, dedication, and service.

KGI student with beaker bee
KGI awar plagues KGI alumni dinner

BEE UNITED – Alumni & Industry Engagement Day

Friday, October 2, 2026

Join us for KGI’s second annual BEE United: Alumni and Industry Engagement Day. This signature event brings together our network of alumni, corporate partners, industry advisors, and university leadership to celebrate our success, expand collaboration, and honor our outstanding graduates.

Join us on Friday, October 2, 2026, for KGI’s flagship alumni and industry gathering of the year. This signature event serves as a forum connecting our alumni network, Industry Advisory Board (IAB) members, corporate partners, and university leadership.

Your All-Access Schedule:

You are welcome to attend all or just part of the day. When registering, select the specific events you plan to attend. Registration provides full access to the day’s integrated itinerary, designed to foster collaboration and celebrate educational excellence:

  • Morning Networking Breakfast: Connect with fellow industry pioneers, faculty, and KGI leadership. (9:30AM)
  • Resumania: Join us as a volunteer to review student resumes, discuss presentation styles, and provide critical feedback to help KGI students sharpen their professional messaging and maximize their interview readiness. (10:00AM)
  • The Second Annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Luncheon: Our centerpiece ceremony in the Founders Room honoring four exceptional KGI graduates. (Noon)
  • Alumni & Industry Career Panel: Share and inherit insights on the rapidly evolving life sciences and healthcare landscapes. (2:00PM)
  • Closing Networking Reception: An open-air evening reception to celebrate our award winners and cement new connections. (4:30PM)

Important Seating Notice (Founders Room):

To ensure our alumni, award nominees, and dedicated industry partners receive priority access, luncheon seats are reserved in the order RSVPs are received.

Attire: Business Professional

Join us on Friday, October 2, 2026, for The premier gathering of the KGI network. This is your chance to connect directly with regional industry leaders, corporate partners, and distinguished KGI alumni.

Your Schedule & Access:

As a KGI student, your registration grants you access to key networking and learning blocks throughout the day:

  • Networking Breakfast: Kickstart your morning making connections with visiting professionals.
  • Alumni & Industry Career Panel: Gain insights from a panel of successful graduates and corporate leaders.
  • Evening Networking Reception: Close out the day with open networking over refreshments.

Important Luncheon Capacity Notice:

Due to seating limitations in the Founders Room, student seating for the Distinguished Alumni Awards Luncheon is managed on a first-come, first-served queue.

Registering via this RSVP process places you on the priority list for a luncheon seat, but final seat allocations will be managed based on available capacity. You will be contacted the week prior to the event to claim an official confirmation number for the luncheon.

Attire: Business Professional

Friday
October 2, 2026
9:30 — 10:00 a.m.
Check-in & Networking Breakfast
10:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.
Resumania
12:00 — 2:00 p.m.
Awards Luncheon
2:00 — 4:30 p.m.
Career Panel & Keynote
4:30 — 6:00 p.m.
Networking Reception
This schedule is tentative and subject to change.

The Awards

The Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize exceptional graduates who exemplify KGI's mission, demonstrate leadership, and contribute significantly to the life sciences community and the Institute.

Professional Achievement Award

Honors two alumni who has demonstrated significant career advancement, pioneering leadership, and groundbreaking innovation in the life sciences, biotech, or healthcare sectors.

View Selection Criteria

Volunteer Service Award

Celebrates an alumni who exemplifies dedication to KGI through mentorship, support and consistent giving of their time and expertise to support the student and alumni community.

View Selection Criteria

Early Career Impact Award

Recognizes an outstanding graduate who is making a powerful, early impact in their career, showcasing exceptional leadership potential, entrepreneurial spirit, or scientific contribution in their field.

View Selection Criteria
KGI students at Resumania

Resumania

This program is designed to sharpen your professional messaging and interview readiness. Open exclusively to KGI students, Resumania provides a unique opportunity to receive personalized critique and discussion from a dedicated panel of KGI alumni and Advisory Board members. These industry experts volunteer their time to review your resume, discuss your presentation style, and provide critical feedback to ensure you are fully prepared and highly competitive for your next career opportunity.

KGI alumni at luncheon

Recognition Awards Luncheon

Gather with the KGI community to honor inspiration and excellence. This celebratory luncheon is dedicated to acknowledging the Distinguished Alumni Award recipients and highlighting the transformative achievements of KGI graduates. It is a moment to recognize those who exemplify mentorship, leadership, and a commitment to giving back, fostering a spirit of pride and encouraging the next generation of biotech and healthcare innovators.

Jenny Sheng headshot

Jenny Sheng, MBS '09

Professional Achievement Award Recipient

Jenny Sheng, MBS '09, has built a career that bridges leadership in large pharmaceutical companies with bold entrepreneurial innovation, always guided by a commitment to amplify the patient voice in life sciences. She began her career in influential roles at Novartis and Pfizer, where she advanced through positions of increasing responsibility and impact, mastering the complexities of global pharmaceutical development and commercialization.

In 2023, Jenny founded Innomaven Consulting, a boutique firm dedicated to ensuring that patients and customers are central to healthcare product strategies. Through this venture, she partners with life science companies to redesign R&D and commercial processes around patient needs, capture authentic care experiences, and create multi-stakeholder solutions to reduce friction and improve outcomes. Her work represents a shift toward more inclusive and ethical innovation in healthcare-one that ensures products are developed with patients, not just for them.

Beyond her professional achievements, Jenny is a visible leader in the broader life sciences community. She is active in organizations such as the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, where she speaks on advancing women in leadership, and she volunteers her time to mentor the next generation of industry professionals and she was awarded the Marie Curie Innovation and Impact Awards for championing patient voices in healthcare. She was also named a Women in Innovation Mover & Maker Winner in 2024.

Jenny exemplifies the values of a KGI graduate through her entrepreneurial spirit, interdisciplinary approach, and ethical leadership. By integrating patient perspectives into the heart of science and business, she is reshaping the industry and carrying forward the KGI mission of innovation and collaboration with lasting impact.

Erin White headshot

Erin White, PPC '12, MBS '13

Professional Achievement Award Recipient

Erin White, MD, PPC '12, MBS '13, has built an extraordinary career defined by academic excellence, trailblazing leadership in surgery, and an enduring commitment to the KGI community. While at KGI, Erin earned 19 A+ grades while carrying more than 16 credits per semester, quickly becoming a legend among faculty and classmates for her intellect, work ethic, and humility.

Following KGI, Erin joined the inaugural class of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, setting the foundation for a brand-new medical program and earning recognition in the press for her role in this pioneering cohort. She went on to complete an intensive seven-year surgical residency at Yale New Haven Hospital, one of the nation's top academic medical centers, and is now practicing as a surgeon in Connecticut.

As one of the few women in a historically male-dominated specialty, Erin has established herself as a leader in medicine and a role model for future physicians. Beyond her professional achievements, she remains a dedicated alumna-returning to campus to support students interested in medical careers and lending her expertise during KGI's exploration of medical education. Erin embodies the KGI values of innovation, collaboration, and leadership, serving as both a distinguished surgeon and an engaged member of the alumni hive.

Jennifer Wong headshot

Jennifer Wong, MBS '08

Professional Achievement Award Recipient

Jennifer Wong has dedicated more than 16 years to advancing healthcare innovation and regulatory excellence at Abbott, where she has risen through multiple leadership positions to her current role as Divisional Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs and Global Clinical Regulatory Affairs. With a strong background in bioengineering and biosciences, she has applied her expertise in R&D systems, FDA regulations, and patient safety to bring life-changing medical technologies to market. Among her notable contributions is her leadership in neuromodulation and deep brain stimulation programs, helping to pave the way for groundbreaking new therapies in treatment-resistant depression.

Her professional impact extends across both patient outcomes and industry leadership. By shaping global regulatory strategies, Jennifer has helped ensure that Abbott's mission to develop transformative healthcare solutions reaches patients worldwide. She has been recognized as a Technology Rising Star at the Waves of Change (WOC) STEM Conference (2021) and named a Rising Star by the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (2025), further underscoring her influence as a trailblazer in the life sciences sector.

Jennifer exemplifies the values of a KGI graduate by combining technical mastery, regulatory insight, and business leadership to drive innovation. Her career reflects the entrepreneurial spirit and ethical commitment at the heart of KGI, and her continued rise within Abbott stands as an inspiration for the next generation of leaders in bioscience and healthcare.

Richard Cale headshot

Richard Cale, PharmD '21

Early Career Award Recipient

Dr. Richard Cale, PharmD '21, is a healthcare and medical technology leader with more than five years of experience spanning the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. A 2021 graduate of the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) School of Pharmacy, Dr. Cale has built a career at the intersection of clinical expertise, innovation, and business strategy, leveraging his pharmacy training to advance medical technologies and strengthen partnerships with healthcare professionals. His experience in medical device development, combined with his military background and strong business acumen, has shaped him into a strategic leader, creative problem solver, and trusted collaborator dedicated to improving healthcare delivery. Throughout his career, Dr. Cale has demonstrated a commitment to leadership, innovation, and service while exemplifying the interdisciplinary values fostered by a KGI education.

Stephen Chang headshot

Stephen Chang, MBS '08

Volunteer Service Award Recipient

Stephen Chang, MBS '08, has been a consistent and dedicated supporter of KGI students for more than a decade, helping to launch numerous careers in life science consulting. Throughout his career at leading firms, including ClearView Healthcare Partners, Stephen has maintained close ties with KGI Career Services, frequently returning to campus-or connecting virtually-to recruit students, lead information sessions, and provide insights into the consulting industry. His steady commitment over the past 13 years has made him a trusted resource and mentor for students exploring consulting careers.

In addition to his recruiting efforts, Stephen has served as a member of the Alumni Advisory Council, contributing to the growth of alumni engagement and strengthening the bridge between students, alumni, and industry. Known for his openness and inclusive leadership style, he creates environments where students feel comfortable sharing their perspectives and asking questions. By championing KGI talent and supporting students at pivotal moments in their professional development, Stephen has made a lasting impact on both individuals and the broader KGI community.