Five US Winners Among Recipients of Hamdan Medical Awards

DUBAI, UAE, November 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Five American winners will receive the highly prestigious "Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Awards for Medical Sciences", in its 8^th term; 2013-2014, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 15 December 2014.

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The Carter Center which won the Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services is actively involved in numerous programs that aim to improve health and promote peace and democracy.

The winning Center achieved highly admirable success with its health programs and initiatives, most notably the Guinea Worm Eradication Program. Throughout its endeavors, the working of the Carter Center is truly exemplary as to how volunteerism can change peoples' lives for the best.      

The Grand Hamdan Award on the topic of Drug Discovery was won by Prof. Magid Abou-Gharbia, from Temple University, Pennsylvania.

Abou-Gharbia's contributions to drug discovery are indeed exceptional; with eight marketed drugs, such as Torisel^®, and Bosulif^® for the treatment of cancer. Moreover, his work was crucial for developing marketed drugs for other common diseases such as osteoporosis (Conbriza), depression (Effexor, Pristique), insomnia (Sonata), and bacterial infections (Tygacil).

Three other American scientists are to receive the Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence. On the topic of vaccines, the winner is deservingly Prof. Stanley Plotkin from the University of Pennsylvania. Plotkin is a true pioneer in the field of vaccines with a worldwide reputation. He developed the rubella vaccine, which is now in standard use throughout the world and has saved millions of children from congenital abnormalities. Also, he contributed to the development of a rotavirus vaccine, an anthrax vaccine, the oral poliovirus vaccine, the cultured rabies vaccine and a varicella vaccine.

Prof. Carl June from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania was chosen for The Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence on the topic of cell therapy.

Prof. June brought renewed hope to leukemia patients and to patients with many other types of cancers with extraordinary results from his innovative cancer treatment that uses modified versions of patients' own immune cells to obliterate tumors.

Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence on the topic of targeted therapy has gone to Prof. Brian Druker, Director of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

Druker's groundbreaking work resulted in the drug Imatinib for treating chronic myelogenous leukemia and other cancers, but more importantly it produced a paradigm shift in the treatment of cancer. After Imatinib tumors are being defined by their molecular underpinnings, and personalized treatments are designed based on functional and genomic analyses. The end result is offering patients more effective and less toxic cancer therapy.

The Patron of this Award is H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance.

The Award was established in 1999, and it has become the most prominent award in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. It continues to recognize and award efforts aimed at realizing excellence in all sciences, especially in medicine and health sciences.

Amany Al-OKda, +971-509147101, E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences