Dr. Wen Chen - Activist
Amnesty International
The Chinese authority has arrested millions of citizens for their spiritual beliefs or political views. These prisoners of conscience have been tortured, forced to do slave labor, and killed for their organs. While it takes several years in the U.S. to wait for matching organs, most Chinese hospitals promise to find donors within weeks. Audiences will also hear about the Chinese government's influence in the U.S., the awakening of Chinese people through innovations to bypass China's Internet blockade, and the trend of quitting the Chinese Communist Party.
About the Speaker
Wen was born in China at the end of the Great Cultural Revolution. Being victims of the horrific atrocity that killed two million intellectuals and destroyed traditional Chinese culture, Wen's parents had mixed feelings about her education. Despite their discouragement, Wen eventually won a national prize at a science competition when she was 16. Hence, she was accepted into a top university for undergraduate study. In 1994, Wen came to the U.S. for graduate school and received a doctorate in Biology at the California Institute of Technology in 2000. Because of her personal experience of being brainwashed in China, she decided to be a voice for the voiceless. Since 2012, she has given over 200 presentations to community organizations about Chinese culture, history, and human rights.
Dr. Wen Chen has been working for Caltech since 2000 as a biologist and information scientist on genomics and biological research. Part of her everyday work is to speak at scientific conferences and seminars at universities like UC San Diego and Harvard Medical School. In her personal life, she is an active member of the Amnesty International Chapter at Pasadena, a board member for Caltech Women in Biology and Biological Engineering, and a special event host for the Caltech Alumni Association. She lives in Pasadena with her husband and two daughters.
