Echopedia

Dr. Robert Y. Lai (賴義雄博士)

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Dr. Robert Y. Lai (賴義雄博士)

Identity Snapshot

  • English: Dr. Robert Y. Lai
  • Chinese: 賴義雄博士
  • Era: 1940-2018
  • Geography: Keelung, Taiwan
  • Core roles: engineer, entrepreneur, scientist, professor
  • Source: TAH Foundation Who’s Who

Accomplishment

  1. Founder, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Medinox Inc. San Diego/CA (Pharmaceutical Co.) 1995-present

Education

  • National Taiwan Univ. — 1962 — B.S., Civil Engineering
  • Northwestern Univ. — 1967 — M.S., Civil Engineering & Fluid mechanics
  • Northwestern Univ. — 1969 — Ph.D., Civil Engineering & Fluid mechanics

Employment

  • TRW Inc. — Senior Engineer — (1982-2000) — National Defense Industry Association — Senior Advisor — (2005-2007) — NARL (國科會國家實驗研究室) — Chairman — (2006-) — Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) — Chairman — (2016-2018) — Medinox Inc., San Diego, CA — Founder, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President — (1995-) — Medical College of Wisconsin — Professor of Biophysics — Community — North American Taiwanese Professors’ Association, South CA Chapter — President (2004) — Taiwanese American Association, Milwaukee Chapter — President

Family

No filled family fields on the TAH profile.

Sources

Timeline

(absorbed from this page’s own Identity Snapshot and TAH tables; no external sources added)

  • 1940 — 出生於台灣基隆
  • 1962 — B.S., Civil Engineering, National Taiwan Univ.
  • 1967 — M.S., Civil Engineering & Fluid Mechanics, Northwestern Univ.
  • 1969 — Ph.D., Civil Engineering & Fluid Mechanics, Northwestern Univ.
  • TRW Inc. — Senior Engineer；Medical College of Wisconsin — Professor of Biophysics
  • 1995– — 創辦 Medinox Inc.（加州聖地牙哥，製藥公司），歷任董事長、總裁兼執行長
  • 2004 — 北美台灣教授協會南加州分會（NATPA-SC）會長
  • 2005–2007 — National Defense Industry Association — Senior Advisor
  • 2006– — NARL（國科會國家實驗研究室）— 董事長
  • 2016–2018 — Global Taiwan Institute（GTI）— 董事長
  • Taiwanese American Association, Milwaukee Chapter — 會長
  • 2018 — 逝世（Era 1940–2018）

Vault Cross-References

  • TAH encyclopedia records for this profile exist in the vault: [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/ota-276|TAH #276 賴義雄博士]] and [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/whos-who-759-robert-y-lai|TAH #759 Who’s Who: Dr. Robert Y. Lai]].
  • GTI 董事長（2016–2018）任期見 |Global Taiwan Institute。

Role in the Community (corpus deepening 2026-10-10)

  • 《臺灣政論》北美地區總代表（1975–）: from its third issue, the monthly 《臺灣政論》 carried “北美地區總代表：賴義雄” on its colophon, with 11 subscription points across the US and Canada — an early role connecting the magazine’s North American distribution to the island democratic movement before the journal’s ban. See [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/our-journeys-357|TAH Our Journeys #357]] (Bay Area 協志會 account).
  • 1990 U.S. Census campaign convener (~1987–1989): in March 1987, then 北美洲台灣人教授協會 president and Washington-DC–based, Lai flew to Los Angeles to brief LA groups on FAPA’s Capitol Hill lobbying and co-founded the “Joint Committee of Taiwanese American for 1990 U.S. Census,” serving as its convener stationed on the East Coast; the 19-member working committee included 吳澧培, 陳隆, 胡維剛, 吳瑞信, 鍾茂智 and others. The campaign’s tri-fold census primer printed over 30,000 copies. See [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/ourjourneys253|TAH Our Journeys #253]] (memoir).
  • Oral history: cited in the corpus as an interviewee — 賴義雄口述訪談紀錄, in 陳儀深 et al., 《海外臺獨運動相關人物口述史 續篇》 (Academia Sinica IAS, 2012), p. 401, quoted in [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/our-journeys-357|TAH Our Journeys #357]].
  • Note on NATPA roles: the corpus places him as national NATPA president in 1987 (DC residence), distinct from the TAH Who’s Who’s NATPA-SC chapter presidency (2004) — both retained, no conflict.
  • Sweep note: corpus hits for 義雄 in mystories616, ourjourneys-138, ourjourneys216/74/37 and our-journeys-378 refer to other people (翁義雄, 郭義雄, 林義雄, 李義雄), not this profile.

From the record

  • 2017-01-24: 林壽英’s memoir 「那段難忘的歲月」 (Our Journeys #275, drafted 2004-11-08, photos appended 2017-01-24) recalls the Evanston/Northwestern years of 1967–1968 and lists 「賴義雄、玉華夫婦」 among the Taiwanese graduate-student couples living together in Dryden Hall — placing Lai (Ph.D. 1969) inside the tight Northwestern graduate circle with 林光輝, 謝嘉峰, 陳光和, 洪承延, 陳冠宇 and 黃嵩德, alongside his spouse 玉華. See [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/ourjourneys275|TAH Our Journeys #275]].

Vault records (deepen pass 2026-09-10)

  • Archival records (dated): [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/ota-276|TAH #276 賴義雄博士]] (published 2019-03-26) · [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/whos-who-759-robert-y-lai|TAH #759 賴義雄博士]] (published 2016-01-17).
  • NATPA 第十次年會（1990-03，台灣）: named in the account of co-hosting negotiations for the association’s first conference held back in Taiwan — discussions continued when he returned to Taiwan that month; see |鄭欽仁’s page and [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/ourjourneys47|TAH Our Journeys #47]].

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