Dubai: Five American winners will receive the Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences in Dubai on December 15.
The Carter Centre, which won the Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services, is involved in several programmes for improving health, most notably, the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme.
Meanwhile, the Grand Hamdan Award on the topic of Drug Discovery was won by Professor Majid Abu Gharbia from Temple University, Pennsylvania.
His contributions to drug discovery include eight marketed drugs, such as those for the treatment of cancer, and common diseases such as osteoporosis, depression, insomnia and bacterial infections.
Three other American scientists are to receive the Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence.
In the field of vaccines, the winner is Professor Stanley Plotkin from the University of Pennsylvania. He developed the rubella vaccine, which is now in standard use globally, saving millions of children from congenital abnormalities.
Professor Carl June from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania was chosen for his work in cell therapy. His innovative cancer treatment uses modified versions of patients’ own immune cells to remove tumours.
On the topic of targeted therapy, the award has gone to Professor Brian Druker, Director of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. His work resulted in the drug Imatinib for treating chronic myelogenous leukaemia and other cancers.
The Patron of the Award is Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance.
The Award was established in 1999 and continues to recognise and award efforts aimed at realising excellence in all sciences, especially medicine and health sciences.
