Professor Chen Ding-shinn, former head of the National Taiwan University College of Medicine and an academician at the Academia Sinica, has made a name for himself for his research related to hepatitis B and liver cancer.
He was awarded the 2010 Nikkei Asia Prize in the category of science and technology, the fourth Taiwanese to have been awarded the prize, and the first person in Taiwan's medical community to win the honor.
Chen was recommended for the prize by former ROC Representative to Japan Koh Se-kai. His achievements underwent three years of scrutiny by members of the prize committee before his name made the list of winners April 26.
Prior to Chen, other winners from Taiwan were Hsu Wen-long, founder of the Chi Mei Group, Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and Chang Chun-Yen, professor emeritus at National Chiao Tung University. Winners of the prize are required to have made outstanding contributions to the wellbeing of the people of Asia.
The 66-year-old Chen has neither a master's degree nor a doctorate. He earned his academic status through a determination and dedication to learning through the years. He decided to devote himself to research on liver cancer when he lost his father to the disease during his fourth year in medical school. After he completed his training as a resident physician in 1976, he joined NTU Professor Sung Juei-low's liver cancer research team. Sung is widely regarded as the father of such research.
Chen's unflagging efforts ultimately led to proof that hepatitis B is the principal culprit behind liver cancer, and that mother-to-infant transmission was the primary method of spreading the disease. These discoveries provided the foundation for a 10-year prevention project, which was tantamount to a war against hepatitis. In July of 1986, Taiwan became the first country in the world to give hepatitis B vaccines to newborns, administering what was in effect a shot to prevent liver cancer.
As a result, the hepatitis B infection rate among children on the island fell from between 10 percent and 20 percent when the project was initiated, to just 1 percent today, and the incidence of liver cancer has also steadily fallen. This successful experience has set an example for the rest of the world. Today, at least 130 countries throughout the world now administer hepatitis B vaccines to newborns, including Japan and other Asian nations.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, which established the Nikkei Asia Prizes, remarked that Chen's discovery of the link between hepatitis B and liver cancer, as well as his involvement in promoting the hepatitis B vaccine have significantly reduced the incidence of liver cancer.
Chen said modestly that he would accept the award on behalf of the community of researchers here involved in hepatitis-related research, stressing that the achievements made are not his alone, but rather represent the work of National Taiwan University and are the pride of Taiwan.
(This article originally appeared in The Liberty Times May 17.)