When NHRI was founded in 1996, Whang-Peng was appointed director of the institute's Cancer Research Division, delving into the then-burgeoning field of gene therapy research with Yang Wen-kuang (currently a professor in the Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science at China Medical University) and other researchers.
1996 年，財團法人國家衛生研究院成立，彭汪嘉康又銜命擔任國衛院癌症研究組主任，與楊文光（現任中國醫藥大學臨床醫學研究所教授）等人積極投入當時最新的癌症基因治療研究。