Chen Lieping, Tasuku Honjo and James Allison (from left to right) |
The winners of the Fudan Science Prize have aroused controversy in recent days, since the organizers offered the prize to American and Japan scholars, but left out Chinese scientist Chen Lieping, who has also contributed a lot to the field.
“I am really disappointed with the final result. It is unprofessional, and ignored the opinions of insiders,” Fu Xinyuan, a professor at the Medical School of National University of Singapore, told Thepaper.cn on Dec. 20.
The Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Prize, with its premium of 3 million RMB, was awarded to American immunologist James Allison and Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo to recognize their contributions to the research of tumor treatment. Many Chinese scientists were reluctant to accept the result because Professor Chen has been of vital importance in the field thanks to his discovery of PD-L1 glair.
Professor Chen was one of the candidates for the prize. The specific reasons he was not named a winner remain unknown. Fu Xingyang, one of the researchers of PD-L1, said he was very surprised that Chen was excluded from the award, though he agreed that the winning scientists deserved the prize.
According to Fu, Chen’s exclusion reflects a larger problem in the international community, which frequently minimizes Chinese contributions.