US, Australian experts win Prince Mahidol Awards 2011

BANGKOK, December 15 (TNA) - Two US psychiatrists and an Australian pediatrician have won Thailand's Prince Mahidol Awards 2011 for discovering a cure for depression and human rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children. The Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under Royal Patronage, in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a press conference to publicly announce the winners of the 20th Prince Mahidol Awards for 2011 in the fields of medicine and public health in Bangkok on December 14. Professor Aaron T. Beck, an American psychiatrist and a professor emeritus at the Department of Psychiatry of the United States' University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. David T. Wong, an adjunct professor at the same department of the US Indiana University School of Medicine, were both named the awardees of this year's honorary Prince Mahidol Awards in the field of medicine; while Dr. Ruth F. Bishop, an honorary professor at the Department of Paediatrics of the Australian University of Melbourne was named the awardees of the Prince Mahidol Awards 2011 in the field of public health. According to the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under Royal Patronage, Professor Dr. Beck, who has been regarded as the father of cognitive therapy, developed a psychotherapeutic approach of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat patients with depression without using medicine; while Dr. Wong discovered fluoxetine hydrochloride, better known under the trade name Prozac, the first medicine in selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) which is widely accepted as efficient medicine to cure depression with high safety and minor side effects. Professor Dr. Bishop discovered rotavirus was a leading cause of severe gastroenteritis in children, particularly in developing countries where the virus has claimed the lives of about 500,000 children annually. The discovery led to rotavirus vaccines used to prevent children contracting such virus. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the President of Thailand's Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, will confer the Prince Mahidol Awards 2011 to the three winners, who were selected among 76 nominations from 45 countries, at the Chakri Throne Hall inside the Grand Palace in Bangkok on January 25. The Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under Royal Patronage was established in commemoration of the centenary of the birth of His Royal Highness Prince Mahidol of Songkla, the Prince Father of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, on January 1, 1992. The foundation has, ever since, annually confered the Prince Mahidol Awards upon individuals or institutions demonstrating outstanding contributions to humanity in the field of medicine and public health. To mark the anniversary celebration of His Royal Highness Prince Mahidol of Songkla's 120th birthday in 2012, each prize of the Prince Mahidol Awards will, from now on, consist a medal, a certificate and the sum of 100,000 US dollars, from 50,000 US dollars previously. (TNA)