Keio Medical Science Prize

2024/05/31

Image: From the 27th Keio Medical Science Prize Award Ceremony (November 2022)

Established in 1996, the Keio Medical Science Prize is awarded to researchers who have achieved outstanding and creative research accomplishments that contribute to the development of medical sciences and life sciences worldwide. By the 28th prize, 10 of the recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. Such an academic award system is unprecedented for a single private university.

The Keio Medical Science Prize is the main project of the Mitsunori Sakaguchi Memorial Keio University Medical Science Fund, established in 1995. This fund was founded based on a 5 billion yen donation from alumnus Mr. Mitsunori Sakaguchi to encourage medical research and its creative development, and to contribute to the advancement of medical sciences and life sciences globally. In addition to awarding the medical prize, the fund carries out projects such as international medical exchange, medical research encouragement, and commemorative lectures. After graduating from the School of Medicine in 1940, Mr. Sakaguchi studied physiology under Professor Genichi Kato and later served as a professor at the Nihon University School of Medicine until 1959. At the age of 80, he sold land he had purchased at the request of an acquaintance during the chaotic post-war period and offered to donate the proceeds to Keio University. Following an additional donation of 2 billion yen in 1999, the fund's activities have been progressing steadily.

The first recipient, Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine the following year in 1997, leading the Keio Medical Science Prize to be known as a precursor to the Nobel Prize. The prize is selected with an emphasis on pioneering new paradigms and concepts, as well as expectations for future development. In other words, the selection criteria focus not on current Nobel laureates, but on researchers expected to win the Nobel Prize in the future.

The review and selection process begins with nominations from prominent researchers and Research Centers and Institutes worldwide. Every year, the call for nominations starts in January or February. After the March deadline, following several rounds of review by internal and external expert committees, the selection committee determines the final candidates around August and recommends them to the Keio University Medical Science Fund Steering Committee. Based on the report from the Steering Committee, the President decides the winners in September. At the award ceremony, winners receive a prize of 10 million yen and a medal featuring the word "KEIO" and the symbol of medical sciences, a staff entwined with a snake, and a commemorative lecture is held. Incidentally, during the first selection process, over 1,300 nomination request letters were sent to 18 countries. By the deadline, 147 nominations were received from over a dozen countries, and 117 outstanding researchers from Japan and abroad were nominated. After conducting achievement surveys and four rounds of review, two candidates were unanimously recommended by the selection committee. The selection committee consists of a chairperson and 18 members selected from both within and outside the university.

When Shibasaburo Kitasato, who had returned from Germany, appealed to the government to establish the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases, Yukichi Fukuzawa invested his own funds to assist in the establishment of the Research Centers and Institutes. He also provided land for the opening of Japan's first tuberculosis hospital. In gratitude for Fukuzawa's kindness, Kitasato was involved in the founding of the Keio University School of Medicine and became its first dean. Perhaps this history also leads to the Keio Medical Science Prize.

(Atsuko Ishiguro, Former Director of the Office of Communications and Public Relations)