Tang Prize Newsletter

Six years after its establishment, the Tang Prize Foundation has held three award ceremonies. As its international reputation continues to grow, its influence in the four fields where the prizes are awarded also keeps extending. We believe videos are an effective medium through which you can be charmed by our laureates, and be immersed in the vibrant atmosphere that prevailed the activities taking place during the Tang Prize week. Also featured in this video are snapshots of the international conferences the foundation has actively participated in in recent years. They speak for the principle underpinning the Tang Prize, as well as the values we always hold dear: “The endless pursuit of the perfection of humanity is an unshakable belief, and a strong determination to change the world.” The 2018 Tang Prize CF is now available.

Knowledge is only valuable when it is applicable. A person’s life is to become a paradigm only when his achievements are recognized. This is especially true for the 8 Tang Prize winners in 2018. Not only did they attract the attention of international media, but they also paved the way for future ideas and inventions that will have significant impact on human civilization. The winners for Sustainable Development came up with evidence pointing to the reality of climate change; the trophies in the category of Biopharmaceutical Science were presented to three scientists whose efforts facilitated the development of targeted cancer therapies; the prizes for Sinology went to two erudite scholars who gave us vivid representations of the history and literature of the Tang and Song dynasties; and the laureate in Rule of Law has deepened our understanding of the normativity of law. That is why the foundation felt so motivated to make a series of films and books to chronicle their lifelong endeavors and to celebrate the glory they have duly won. However, the sad news hit us when John Mendelsohn, the 2018 laureate in Biopharmaceutical Science, passed away after a long battle with cancer at the beginning of 2019. Needless to say, losing Mendelsohn makes all the audio-visual recordings of him even more precious.

Publications about the 2018 Tang Prize winners are due to come out in April and June. Stay tuned to the Tang Prize official website or visit our Facebook webpage for the latest news.

John Mendelsohn, president emeritus of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and 2018 Tang Prize Laureate in Biopharmaceutical Science passed away in Houston on January 7 at the age of 82. The Tang Prize Foundation and its founder Samuel Yin offer its sincerest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

While at UC San Diego, Mendelsohn and his colleague Gordon Sato conceived the idea that antibodies targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) may be an effective strategy for cancer treatment. Mendelsohn and his team conducted preclinical research and developed the anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab (Erbitux®), which has been a successful drug against colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer.

In addition to his work in medical science, Mendelsohn acted in several managing roles at the top cancer institutions in the US, including the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He acted as president of the MD Anderson Cancer Center from 1996 to 2011, a full 15years and three terms. During his tenure, the center was the foremost cancer institution in the US.

Mendelsohn was unable to attend the 2018 Tang Prize award ceremony due to previous health issues. His son, Jeff Mendelsohn, represented him at the event, and noted during the acceptance speech that his father “lived each day so as to look forward to the greatest hope and the least regret”

Mendelsohn did not accept many interviews, especially later in life, though with the announcement of the Tang Prize he was filmed for a short documentary of his life and work.

Please visit the link below to view Mendelsohn and the other laureates in the 2018 Tang Prize documentary in Biopharmaceutical Science (Mandarin version). The English version will be released in April on Tang Prize Official Youtube Channel.

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Experimental Biology (EB) is the annual meeting that brings together scientists across the world to explore the latest cutting edge research in anatomy, biochemistry and molecular biology, investigative pathology, pharmacology, and physiology. This year, the meeting will take place from April 4-6, in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Brian Druker, 2018 Tang Prize winner in Biopharmaceutical Science and director at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Cancer Institute, has been invited to present the opening lecture, “Imatinib as a Paradigm of Targeted Cancer Therapies.” The event will be hosted by Dr. Shu Chien

As a doctor, Druker has long dedicated himself to offering his cancer patients a treatment less aggressive than chemotherapy, and his effort eventually led to the successful clinical trial of imatinib ( Gleevec®) on chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), which opened up the field of tyrosine kinase inhibitors(TKIs) as targeted therapies.

Gleevec shuts off oncogenic signals by inhibiting Abl tyrosine kinase (translocated as Bcr-Abl oncogene in CML). Abl is a tyrosine kinase, the gene of which upon translocation to a different chromosomal site (Bcr [breakpoint cluster region]) becomes constitutively active. In addition to Abl, Gleevec also inhibits Kit, PDGF, and other tyrosine kinase oncoproteins. It has been useful in the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and certain types of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) where Kit is overexpressed. Now there are more than 29 TKIs which have been approved for clinical use.

In one of Time magazine’s cover stories, imatinib was dubbed the “new ammunition in the war against cancer.” Instead of going through a bone marrow transplant, patients with CML now can take pills to fight this terrible disease. Extolled as the most successful example of tyrosine kinase-targeted therapy by small molecule inhibitors, Gleevec was also listed as one of the drugs covered under Taiwan’s National Health Insurance program in 2002.

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For information about Druker’s lecture at EB2019

Dr. Mien-chie Hung, Academia Sinica academician and an authority on cancer gene therapy, arrived in Taiwan on February 1 to take over the post of President of China Medical University from the retiring academician Wen-hua Lee, with the aim of fulfilling the vision of making the school one of the world’s top 100 universities. As there is a long history of academic interactions between Dr. Hung and the Tang Prize Foundation, it is only natural that the CEO of the foundation, Dr. Jenn-chuan Chern congratulated Dr. Hung on his new appointment. James P. Allison, winner of the 2014 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science and 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, also offered his felicitations. In addition, Dr. Hung gifted the foundation a photo of him and Allison as a precious memento.

Dr. Hung and John Mendelsohn, another Tang Prize laureate in Biopharmaceutical Science and president emeritus of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, had been work colleagues for more than twenty years. During the Tang Prize week last year, Dr. Hung not only delivered a speech on behalf of Mendelsohn, but also participated in the Tang Master’s Forum held in China Medical University. He highly praised Mendelsohn’s achievements in the field of cancer treatment, believing that Mendelson has led the MD Anderson Cancer Center to the position of America’s best cancer research hospital. He also pointed out that the center has been working in collaboration with 33 countries around the world, including Taiwan. As vice president of the center, Dr. Hung made sure that relevant medical technologies were introduced to China Medical University and many medical practitioners in Taiwan were able to receive trainings in the center.

Once interviewed for the book the Tang Prize produced for its laureates, Dr. Hung remarked that Dr. Tony Hunter should be credited with the conceptualization of targeted cancer therapies and monoclonal antibodies, both of which originated from his discovery of tyrosine phosphorylation. The fact that the development of more than half of the cancer drugs approved by America’s FDA can be attributed to the development of tyrosine kinases inhibitors means that without Hunter’s research, these drugs would not have existed and millions of cancer patients would have suffered more. Later on, Brian Druker and John Mendelsohn benefited from Hunter’s research and succeed in making new targeted drugs to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia, colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer. Seeing them as three influential figures in the field of cancer research, Dr. Hung thinks they are all deserved winners of the Tang Prize.

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The Yu Ying-shish Fellowship for the Humanities was recently (Dec 28) conferred on the 2018 awardees. Six outstanding researchers from America, Hong Kong and Taiwan received a commemorative plaque and acknowledgement of the funds at the ceremony held at the Museum of the Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica in Taipei. Chin-shing Huang, vice president of the Academia Sinica, noted the intense competition between this year’s applicants over such worthy recognition, adding that the selection process for the fellowship is “only less rigorous than the Tang Prize itself.” He also pointed out that 2019 is going to be the last year the fellowship will be granted, hoping that someone could step forward to pick up the baton, and keep providing funds as a way to encourage more young talent to undertake research in the field of humanities.   

Each year, six scholars are named as fellowship recipients: three recipients for the Academic Publication Scholarship, worth NT$ 360,000 each; and three recipients for the Dissertation Scholarship, worth NT$240,000 each. For 2018, the Academic Publication Scholarship was awarded to Howard Chiang, assistant professor in the Department of History, UC Davis; Hsu Hui-lin, assistant professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Chinese University of Hong Kong; You Yi-fei, assistant professor in the Department of History, National Chung Hsing University; and the Dissertation Scholarship was awarded to Hsu Sheng-kai, seventh year PhD student in the Department of History at National Taiwan Normal University; Huang Yi-chun, seventh year PhD student in the Department of History at National Taiwan University; and Yang Chung-wei, fifth year PhD student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University. The two recipients from the US were unable to attend the ceremony due to their teaching commitments.

Recipient of the first year Tang Prize in Sinology, Yu Ying-shih donated his NT$10 million grant accompanying the Tang Prize to the founding of a new fellowship, the “Yu Ying-shih Fellowship for the Humanities.” The Tang Prize Foundation entrusted the Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica with the annual selection of the recipients as of 2015, and the Fellowship has earned the high esteem of scholars in the disciplines of the humanities ever since. 

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On the heels of the third Tang Prize award ceremony, DVDs and a Chinese-language book titled “The Persevering Spirits: the Third Tang Prize Laureates” will soon be launched in April and June this year.

 With both Chinese and English versions available, each DVD is a documentary on the 2018 awardees in one of the four award categories with the following titles that summarize their successes: in Sustainable Development—“ Pioneers of Climate Change Awareness”; in Biopharmaceutical Science—“The Dawn of Targeted Cancer Therapy”; in Sinology— “Broadening Horizons: Tang Poetic and Song Historical Contributions”; and in Rule of Law —“An Original Thinker in the Modern World.”    

Besides the videos of the third Tang Prize award ceremony and Tang Prize concert, these commemorative DVDs also include many precious photos of the laureates and their edifying lectures and forums, showcasing their invaluable contributions that will undoubtedly become the indelible memories for many generations to come.

In addition, the book penned by Liang Yu-fang from Linking Publishing Company features her interviews with the laureates, detailing how they managed to overcome enormous difficulties and challenges, and plough through considerable frustration and failures. Their perseverance and diligence eventually led them to their moments of glory, when the world came to recognize and honor their remarkable achievements.

The DVDs and the book are scheduled to be released in April and June respectively.

For the latest news, please visit The Tang Prize official website and the Tang Prize Facebook