Edward Penhoet

In 1963, Penhoet completed his Bachelor of Arts in Biology at Stanford University, then went on to complete his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Washington in 1968.[2] From 1986 to 1970, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California in San Diego.[3]

After completing his fellowship in 1970, Penhoet went on to be an assistant professor at the University of California in Berkeley until 1976, then he was an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry until 1983.[4] Penhoet resigned from his position as tenured faculty in order to concentrate on Chiron, a company he co-founded in 1981, and where held the position of president and chief executive officer until April 1998.[3] From 1998 to 2002, Penhoet was the Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.[2] From 2002 until 2004, he was the chief scientific officer of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, where he was also President from 2004 until 2008.[5]

In 2009, he was an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.[6] That same year he was elected member of the PCAST until 2016.[7]

Penhoet received the first Distinguished Faculty Award from the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, UCB, in life sciences in 1991.[8]

Together with Chiron co-founder, William J. Rutter, Penhoet shared the North Californian Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1992, presented by the Ernst & Young and Inc. Magazine.[9] They also received the Harvard Business School Northern California Alumni Chapter Award for Entrepreneur of the Year in 1994.[10]

Penhoet has also written over 50 scientific publications. The Marquis Who's Who has also listed him as a noteworthy dean, company executive, and foundation administrator.[11]