This year, the Prince Mahidol Award in the field of Medicine is awarded to Professor Ralph A. DeFronzo, M.D. from the United States of America.

The Prince Mahidol Award in the field of Public Health is awarded to Dr. Douglas R. Lowy, M.D. from the United States of America., Dr. John T. Schiller, Ph.D. from the United States of America and Professor Ian Frazer, M.D. from the United Kingdom/Australia.

Prof. DeFronzo has persevered in studying the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes. Using several experimental methods in animals, obese subjects, subjects with a family history of diabetes and T2D subjects, he has helped to define that obesity, especially central obesity, caused the biochemical and molecular disturbances responsible for insulin resistance in T2D. Prof. DeFronzo also proposed the personalized treatment of T2D by choosing the appropriate medication according to the pathophysiology of diabetes. This concept has been recognized and adopted into current medical practice worldwide. Not only working on the pathophysiology and management of T2D, Prof. DeFronzo’s work also involves the prevention of T2D. Obesity plays a major role in insulin resistance, therefore reduction of body weight by intensive lifestyle modification and various medications results in the improvement of insulin resistance and delay or prevention of the new onset of T2D and saved millions of T2D patients from chronic diabetic complications.

Drs. Lowy and Schiller worked together at the National Cancer Institute and discovered that the major virion protein of human papillomaviruses (HPV) could self-assemble into virus-like particles (VLPs) and the VLPs could strongly induce a protective immune response against the viruses.

Prof. Frazer working at the University of Queensland discovered the VLP self-assembly process. These researchers then developed VLP production processes from recombinant proteins. This led to the development of HPV vaccines using VLPs, which are highly effective owing to the enhanced immunogenicity and the presentation of native antigenic epitopes to the immune system.

The achievements of Drs. Lowy, Schiller, and Frazer have led to the development of HPV vaccine, which has been internationally implemented. The vaccine has prevented HPV infection, cervical cancer, and other HPV-related cancers and saved countless of lives.