After three awards ceremonies which celebrated the remarkable contributions of 19 winners, the Tang Prize, inaugurated in the East and thriving on Asia’s rich tradition of humanitarianism and its reservoir of philosophical thought, has gradually become a cultural and intellectual tour de force that enlightens and encourages future generations to aspire to greatness.
September, the beginning of a new academic year, is the time the Tang Prize Foundation starts to reach out to teachers and students in Taiwan, holding on-campus talks to discuss issues that have profound impact on humanity in the 21st century, as well as how they are connected to the prize’s four award categories. Besides meeting its educational obligations, the foundation continues to interact actively with various international associations. Here are two exciting pieces of news we would like to share with you. Dr. Tony Hunter, one of the 2018 laureates in Biopharmaceutical Science, will be presenting the 2020 Experimental Biology (EB) Tang Prize Award Lecture in San Diego on the topic: “Tyrosine Phosphorylation: From Discovery to Drug Development and Beyond,” telling the audience his unexpected discovery of tyrosine phosphorylation, the development of drugs aimed to inhibit tyrosine kinases, and two research project he is running currently: pancreatic cancer and histidine phosphorylation. This July, the incumbent President of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Professor Prasenjit Duara, came to Taiwan at the invitation of Academia Sinica to give two speeches. Also included in his itinerary was a visit to the Tang Prize Foundation, where he met up with Dr. Jenn-Chuan Chern, CEO of the foundation, to talk about the prospects of signing an MOA and ensure more fruitful collaborations with each other in future.
Meanwhile, the latest nomination work is in steady progress. Renowned scholars and prestigious academic institutes around the world have been invited to recommend their worthy candidates. After the deadline for nomination passes at the end of this September, meetings will be convened in the coming months for the four independent selection committees to decide the 2020 Tang Prize winners.
For the schedule of the foundation’s campus activities, please go to https://reurl.cc/yyZE8l (Chinese only)
