Successful 2020 Tang Prize Award Ceremony Highlights Laureates' Achievements and Influence

TAIPEI, Nov. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2020 Tang Prize Award Ceremony took place virtually at 2p.m. (GMT+8) on November 20. Eight 2020 recipients of the prize from seven countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Singapore, Bangladesh, Colombia, and Lebanon, attended this heartwarming event remotely, where they were greeted with congratulations and applause from audiences all over the world. The Tang Prize Foundation would like to thank everyone participating online, witnessing together the celebration of the outstanding achievements and the international influence of eight laureates considered by many as pioneers in their respective fields. To relive the inspiring moments of this ceremony and witness again the charm of the eight 2020 laureates, please visit our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/lN0ADXBNT-Q for Chinese subtitles, or https://youtu.be/56GwDm3EL0g for English subtitles.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Jenn-Chuan Chern, CEO of the Tang Prize Foundation, explained that the COVID pandemic that engulfed the entire world in 2020 had disrupted the plans the Foundation previously worked out. Though Dr. Samuel Yin, founder of the Tang Prize Foundation, had hoped that once the pandemic receded, the 2020 laureates could travel to Taiwan to receive the awards and take part in a series of activities, the fact that the virus continues to wreak havoc worldwide in 2021 has led the Foundation to finally decide to hold a virtual award ceremony. Dr. Chern also expressed his gratitude for the president and members of the Selection Committee, citing their professionalism, meticulousness, unbiased judgement and great vision as reasons the best candidates could be selected as winners.

Dr. Tadamitsu Kishimoto, an awardee of the prize in Biopharmaceutical Science, received his prizes remotely in Japan. Speaking from Osaka University's Immunology Frontier Research Center, he noted the significance of the recognition from the Tang Prize for his lifelong research on IL-6, which resulted in the development of the drug, tocilizumab, now being used in more than 100 countries to ease the pain of millions of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

With the enthusiastic participation of audiences around the globe, the first virtual Tang Prize Award Ceremony has come to a successful end. We hope life will return to normal in the coming year, so that an in-person award ceremony can be held in Taiwan, a tradition of the Tang Prize that has been observed since 2014.