Dr. Baruch Blumberg, Honorary Academician of Academia Sinica and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine died on April 5, 2011 in California. Dr. Blumberg was a renowned biochemist, medical anthropologist and virologist. His discovery of the hepatitis B virus in 1967 led to the development of the hepatitis B vaccine in 1969, the first “cancer vaccine”. This led to the drastic reduction in the spread of hepatitis B infections and the prevention of liver cancers around the world. Dr. Blumberg was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including member of the US National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, and National Inventors Hall of Fame.