Seng-jaw Soong

Seng-jaw Soong (born January 6, 1943 in Taiwan; died December 28, 2012 in Birmingham) was a cancer researcher, professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine at the UAB School of Medicine, and long-time director of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Facility at the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, of which he was an associate director. Soong published widely and was a co-author of a primary medical text on cutaneous melanoma.

Soong was born in Taiwan and earned his bachelor's degree in statistics at the National Chengchi University. He immigrated to the United States to complete a master's degree in statistics at Oregon State University in 1970, and a PhD in biostatistics at UAB in 1976. As a researcher Soong focused on the study of melanomas, but his specialty in medical statistics allowed him to contribute to numerous other fields of investigation, including AIDS research.

Soong retired in 2008. He died in 2012 and was survived by his wife, Mayhue, two sons, Weily and Peily, and four grandchildren.

In honor of Soong's contributions to UAB and to the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Facility, a bust of him was placed in the lobby of the Cancer Center in 2016. The text on the plaque below the bust reads as follows:

Text on the plaque honoring Dr. Soong:

Seng-jaw Soong, PhD Director Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Facility 1975-2008 In 1975 Dr. Soong became the first statistician of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and in 1979 was appointed Director of the Biostatistics Unit. Dr. Soong's in-depth knowledge of the Cancer Center's diverse faculty and his extremely strong organizational ability enabled him to grow the Biostatistics Unit into a robust and internationally renowned program.

References

• "Dr Seng-jaw Soong" obituary (January 12, 2013) The Birmingham News