Apart from receiving the Nikkei Asia Prize in 2012, Dr Wong has received The Searle Scholar Award in Biomedical Sciences, the Presidential Young Investigator Award in Chemistry, the American Chemical Society A C Cope Scholar Award, the Roy Whistler Award of the International Carbohydrate Organization, the American Chemical Society Harrison Howe Award in Chemistry, the American Chemical Society Claude S Hudson Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry (1999), the International Enzyme Engineering Award, the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, and the F A Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research.

Among other roles, he is also a scientific adviser of the Max-Planck Institute, and scientific advisory board chairman of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, a company he co-founded in the US. But for now, the entrepreneur in him has taken a backseat. "As the head of Academia Sinica, my job is now to promote the biotechnology industry. I function as an adviser to companies that need help," he signs off.