The award from the Lester Center at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business is presented annually to recognize the entrepreneurial accomplishments of key contributors to the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area's economy. It will be presented to Penhoet at the UC Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum at the Haas School at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 25.

Penhoet has held a prominent role in the biotech boom that came to define the San Francisco Bay Area since he, Dr. Bill Rutter, and Pablo Valenzuela launched Chiron Corp. in 1981. The company, named after a mythological creature that was a master of healing, became known for creating the hepatitis B vaccine and isolating the virus that causes hepatitis C.

Penhoet, who had previously taught in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, was named dean of the School of Public Health in 1998. He is also a partner in the venture capital firm, Alta Partners, and serves on several boards of directors, including the UC System Biotech Advisory Committee. He is chair of the Bay Area BioScience Center and the Chabot Space & Science Center. Penhoet is immediate past chair of the California Health Care Institute.

Penhoet also is an original member of the Lester Center's board of advisors, dating from when he was still at Chiron. He is the first member of the Lester Center's board who has been honored with the award.

Later this year, Penhoet will leave UC Berkeley to join the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as director of its higher education and science program.

Previous winners of the Lester Center's Lifetime Achievement Award include: Alejandro Zaffaroni, founder of several pharmaceutical delivery companies, including Alza, Affymetrix, and Maxygen; Arthur Rock, pioneering venture capitalist; Gordon Moore, co-founder of the Intel Corp.; and William Hambrecht, co-founder of Hambrecht & Quist, and founder of W.R. Hembrecht + Co.

The Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation was founded in 1990 with a $1 million endowment gift from W. Howard Lester, chairman of Williams-Sonona, who believed that the university had a role to play in helping aspiring entrepreneurs have a greater chance at success.