Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI) has been providing an on-going support for this prestigious award, flying members of the award selection committee and award recipients to the Kingdom of Thailand.
In the Field of Medicine, the 2017 Prince Mahidol award was presented to the Human Genome Project. Representing the project to receive the award was Dr. Eric D. Green (3rd from left), Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institute of Health, the United States. The Human Genome Project was a large research project that significantly advanced knowledge in genetics and the human genome.
In the field of Public Health, the awards were presented to Professor Porter W. Anderson, Jr. (5th from left), Professor Emeritus at the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Rochester Medical Center; Dr. John B. Robbins (front row), an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine before beginning his career at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Health, in 1970 then retired in 2012; Dr. Rachel Schneerson (6th from left) who did her pediatrics residency in Israel and later worked for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development until her retirement in 2012 and Professor Dr. Mathuram Santosham (4th from left), Director Emeritus of Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health (CIAH). Also present at the ceremony were Mrs. Usanee Sangsinkeo (2nd from left), THAI Acting President and Dr. Supat Vanichakarn (1st from right), Secretary-General of the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation.
The Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, of which Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is the president, was established on 1 January 1992 to commemorate the centennial birthday of His Royal Highness Prince Mahidol of Songkla. The Prince Mahidol Award is conferred annually to individuals or institutions which have demonstrated outstanding and exemplary contributions to the advancement of medical and public health services for humanity throughout the world.