2016 - Professor Vamsi K. Mootha-

Professor Vamsi Krishna Mootha

Vamsi Mootha completed his high school education at Kelly High School in Beaumont, Texas in 1989, and received his B.Sc. (Honors, with Distinction) in Mathematical and Computational Science at Stanford University in 1993, and M.D. (cum laude) from Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School in 1998, his thesis being focused on mitochondrial energetics. Thereafter, he completed three-year Internship and Residency program in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston (1998 to 2001), followed by another three years Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2001-2004) at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at Cambridge, MA, during which he worked on regulatory control in mitochondrial energetics. He is currently a Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, a Professor of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and a Senior Research Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.

Professor Mootha and his team combine the tools of genomics with rigorous computation and biochemical physiology to explore mitochondrial function in health and disease. His major research accomplishments include characterization of the mitochondrial proteome, discovery of more than 15 novel mitochondrial disease genes by integrative genomics and use of targeted exome sequencing for clinical diagnostics. He also discovered the molecular machinery of mitochondrial calcium uniporter and showed that a subtle decline in mitochondrial gene expression underlies type 2 Diabetes and that the mitochondrial one-carbon pathway is altered in many diseases.

Professor Mootha’s outstanding contributions have been recognized by several honors including, the Grand Award of the 40th International Science and Engineering Fair (1989), Stanford University David Starr Jordan Scholarship (1990), HHMI Postdoctoral Fellowship for Physicians (2001), John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship (2004), NIH Wednesday Afternoon Lectureship (2006), Daland Prize of the American Philosophical Society (2008), MGH Martin Prize for Basic Research (2011), Keilin Medal of the Biochemical Society (2014) and the prestigious Padma Shri Prize of the Government of India (2014), and membership of the National Academy of Sciences.

Professor Mootha serves as editorial board member of Molecular Systems Biology, Cell Metabolism, and European Molecular Biology Organization Journal as well as ad hoc reviewer for many prestigious journals such as Science, Nature, Cell, New England Journal of Medicine, Genomic Research and others. Besides, he holds several other responsibilities as member of scientific advisory boards, grant reviewer and chairman, co-chairman or organizer of national and international symposia.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2016 - Professor Stephen P. Jackson-

Professor Stephen Philip Jackson

Stephen Jackson obtained his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Leeds in 1983, and completed his Ph.D. research on yeast RNA splicing at the Imperial College of Science and Technology and the University of Edinburgh. Thereafter, he carried out post-doctoral research on the regulation of transcription at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon his return to the U.K. in 1991, he was appointed as a Junior Group Leader at the Gurdon Institute (formally known as Wellcome CRC Institute) and became Senior Group Leader and Fellow of St. John’s College at Cambridge University in 1995. He was also appointed as Fredrick James Quick Professor of Biology at the Department of Zoology from 1995 to 2009, then Fredrick James Quick and Cancer Research U.K. Professor of Biology at the Department of Biochemistry at Cambridge University from 2009. He is currently the Head of the Cancer Research U.K. Laboratories, and the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research U.K. Gurdon Institute.

 

Professor Jackson’s research focuses primarily on understanding how cells detect and repair DNA damage. Towards this objective, his laboratory uses a broad range of techniques and approaches to obtain a deeper insight of the cellular pathways that will yield a better understanding of the diseases that can arise when such pathways are lost e.g., hereditary and sporadic cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, developmental defects, immune deficiencies, infertility and premature aging, and will work on new treatment strategies for these diseases. Professor Jackson is a prolific author, with many of his publications appearing in prestigious journals. He is credited for his innovative approach towards rendering his findings into tangible therapeutic products for cancer treatment. In 1997, he founded KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery and drug-development company which seeks to develop new treatments for cancer based on knowledge of cellular DNA damage response pathways. The company was acquired by AstraZeneca in 2005. In 2011, he founded MISSION Therapeutics to develop drugs and improve management of life-threatening diseases, particularly cancer.

Professor Jackson’s outstanding contributions towards understanding DNA repair and DNA damage response signaling pathways have earned him many awards including the Biochemical Society Glaxo Smith Award (2008), the title of BBSRC Innovator of the Year (2009) and the Ganga A. and Ch. Van Hock Prize (2015). He is also a Member of the Biochemical Society, the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of numerous national and international scientific committees and advisory boards in his field of specialization.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2016 -Professor Joris A. Veltman-

Professor Joris A. Veltman

Joris Veltman obtained his B.S. in Molecular Sciences from Wageningen University in 1995 and his Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology ​​and Otorhinolaryngology from Maastricht University in 1999, followed by two post-doctoral fellowships, the first in the Department of Cancer Genetics at the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of California in San Francisco in 1999-2000 and the second in the Department of Human Genetics at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, NL. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor during 2005-2008 then as an Associate Professor during 2008-2013 in the Department of Human Genetics at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen. He is currently a Professor of Translational Genomics in the Department of Medical Genetics at Radboud University, a Professor in the Department of Clinical Genetics at Maastricht University, and the Head of the Genome Research Division of the Department of Human Genetics at Radboud University.

Professor Veltman is a former member of the Scientific Program Committee for the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Genetics and its current Chairman, Director of the Next Generation Sequencing course of the European Society of Human Genetics in partnership with the European School of Genetic Medicine in Bologna, Italy, and an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Human Genetics. He also served as Chair of the Research Oversight Committee of the Genome Canada Project on Personalized Medicine and Genomics project on Epilepsy, member of the Annual Review Committee of Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative in New York and member of the review committee, Health Research Council, the Academy of Finland, Helsinki.

Professor Veltman is a distinguished molecular geneticist, who has been instrumental in the set-up, application, and implementation of genomics approaches in medical genetics. Together with Professor Henry Bruner, he developed and experimentally validated the hypothesis that a major part of intellectual disability should be due to de novo gene mutations, given the severity, early onset and genetic heterogeneity of such forms of disability. Professors Veltman and Bruner used a combination of genomic microarrays, exome and genomic sequencing approaches in their studies, and their de novo paradigm has since been validated in other neurocognitive phenotypes, autism, epileptic encephalopathies and schizophrenia. Their contribution thus represents one of the recent major breakthroughs in human genetics.

Professor Veltman’s innovative achievements have been recognized by research grants and awards from the Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the European Union.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2016 -Professor Henri G. Brunner-

Professor Henri G. Brunner

Henri Brunner graduated from the University of Groningen Medical School in 1984, completed his specialty training in Clinical Genetics in 1988 at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen and was board certified in Clinical Genetics in 1988. He joined the Section of Clinical Genetics at the Institute of Human Genetics in Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in 1988. In 1993, he earned a Ph.D. degree for his genetic studies in myotonic dystrophy. He became a full Professor of Human Genetics and the Head of the Institute of Human Genetics at Radboud University Medical Center in 1998. In 2014, he was also appointed as Chairman of the Institute of Clinical Genetics at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. From 2004 to 2008, he was also Chancellor for Human Genetics, Pediatrics, and Medical Psychology at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center.

Professor Brunner holds or has previously held many other responsibilities nationally and internationally. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the KNAW Hubrecht Laboratory at Utrecht, a former Chairman of the Dutch National Organization for Scientific Research Committee for VICI career development grants, a former Chairman of Quality Assurance Committee of the Dutch Clinical Genetic Society. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Dutch Organization for Research of Neuromuscular diseases, the Core Assessment Committee for the Leiden UMC Science Review, the Board of Directors of the Dutch Society of Human Genetics, and the Medical Sciences Fellowship Committee of the Dutch National Organization for Scientific Research.

At the international level, Professor Brunner serves as President of the European Society of Human Genetics, Co-Chairman of Diagnostics of the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium, Joint Organizer of the European School of Medical Genetics. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Human Genetics and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Sydney Brenner Institute of Molecular Biology in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has also served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Society of Human Genetics, the Scientific Committee, Telethon, Italy, the Scientific Program Committee for the World Congress of Human Genetics, Brisbane, Australia, and the Jury for the Soderberg professorship of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Molecular Syndromology, Clinical Genetics, and Journal of Medical Genetics, and former editorial board member of the Netherlands Journal of Medicine and Clinical Syndromology.

Professor Brunner is a distinguished molecular geneticist and a leader in the clinical delineation of a large number of rare genetic syndromes and the application of next generation sequencing technology in the clinic. Professors Brunner and Veltman and their groups carried out joint seminal studies using clinical genetic observations as the starting point for human molecular genetic investigations into such aspects as human behavior, skeletal development, brain development, neuromuscular disease, congenital malformations and gonadal development and function. Their pioneering studies, which are published in leading scientific journals have changed the lives of thousands of families worldwide and paved the way for more clinical applications of next generation genomic sequencing technology.

 

Professor Brunner’s accomplishments have been recognized by several awards including the Prize of the Dutch Organization for Research of Neuromuscular diseases, for research of myotonic dystrophy in 1994; the Ben ter Haar Prize of the Clinical Genetics Society of the Netherlands for research in the field of clinical genetics in 1995; Frank Greenberg memorial lectureship at Baylor college of medicine, Houston USA in 2009; the Radboud Science Award in 2011, and the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh Endowed Lecture, Edinburgh UK in 2012.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2016 -محمد عبدالمطلب-

Professor Mohamed Abdalmotaleb Mostafa

 

Muhammad Mustafa obtained his Licentiate of Arts from Dar Al-Ulum College, Cairo University in 1964, and a master’s degree in Literary Criticism and Eloquence from Dar Al-Ulum in 1973, and a Ph.D. in Literary Criticism and Eloquence from Ain Shams University in Cairo in 1978.

Professor Abdul Muttalib pursued an uninterrupted academic career for about 35 years during which he progressed from Instructor in the Department of Arabic Language and Arts at the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University in 1979 to full professor of Literary Criticism and Eloquence in 1990 and Chairman of the Department of Arabic Language in 2000. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University. Professor Abdul Muttalib’s rich academic career witnessed his authorship of about thirty books and numerous publications in Arabic journals, supervision of many Masters and Ph.D. theses and participation in most literary and cultural conferences in Egypt and the Arab World. He is noted for his accomplishments in applied analysis of Arabic poetry and for competently and skillfully coining his analysis of poetic texts with deep knowledge of Arabic culture and insight of contemporary literary and stylistic concepts. He has participated and continues to participate actively in his country’s cultural and literary life, being Chief Editor of the Literary Studies series published by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture’s General Commission for Books, Karmat ibn Hani journal, Litterateurs periodical published by the Litterateurs Club and Literary Voices published by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. He also serves as Convener of the poetry committee in the Supreme Council for Culture and member of the Secretarial Committee of Bait al-Shi’r (Home of Poetry), as well as the Egyptian Union of Writers, the Literary Society, the Egyptian Society for literary Criticism and the literary assignments committee of the Supreme Council for Culture.

Professor Abdul Muttalib was awarded the Order of Cavalier by the French Government in 1997 in recognition of his literary and cultural contributions. He has also received several other honors, including Ain Shams Distinguished Research Award in 1986, Al Babtain Foundation Prize for Arabic Literary Criticism in 1991, Yamani Foundation Prize for Poetry Criticism in 1994, Ain Shams Appreciation Award in 2007 and the Writers Union Prize (Rajaa Al-Naggash) in 2009.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2016- محمد مفتاح-

Professor Mohammed El-Ghazouani Miftah

 

Mohammad Muftah obtained his Licentiate in Arabic Literature in 1966, Certificate of Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies and Certificate of Competence in Education and Psychology in 1967. He completed his Doctorate Degree (Third Cycle) in 1974 and State Doctorate of Arts in 1981, specializing in Islamic Moroccan Thought and both early and modern concepts of literary criticism. He is currently Emeritus Professor at Rabat University.

Professor Muftah joined Rabat University in 1971 and became full Professor in 1981. During his career, he taught Methods of Writing in Islamic Morocco and Arabic Literary Criticism and Modern Eloquence and supervised a number of post-graduate studies. He has also given introductory classes in Arab Universities, including lectures in Arts colleges in Sfax University in Tunisia, King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Nouakchott University in Mauritania and was Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the USA. He is a member of the National Committee for Academic Reform and Accreditation in the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education, founder and chairman of the Round Table Committee on Literary Theories, member of the Professorial Promotions Committee of Rabat University, Honorary member of the Moroccan University for Integration of

Sciences and former member of the Executive Office of Andalusian Studies and Cultural Dialogue and the Editorial Boards of Arts and Humanities Journal in Rabat and Al-Manahil and Moroccan Culture journals published by the Moroccan Ministry of Culture and Communication.

Professor Muftah’s insightful publications and research, have led him to develop a pioneering intellectual perception of Arabic poetry based on applied analysis of poetic texts and its relation to other arts, and the combination between comprehensive knowledge of Arabic heritage and modern literary concepts, thereby revealing the noble human values expressed in different poetic styles through different eras.

In recognition of his distinguished literary theoretical and critical efforts, Professor Muftah was awarded the Royal Moroccan Order of Officer in 2008. He was also awarded several other prizes including Moroccan Grand Prize for the Best Book in Literature and Arts in 1987, Saddam Prize for Literary Research in 1989, Moroccan Grand Book Prize in 1995, Sultan Al-Owais Prize for Arabic Literary Criticism in 2004 and both Shaikh Zayed’s Book Prize and the Arab Network for Tolerance Prize in 2010.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2016 -الغنيم-

H.E. Professor Abdullah bin Yousif Al-Ghunaim

Abdullah Al-Ghunaim completed his high school education in Kuwait then joined Cairo University in the Arab Republic of Egypt, where he earned Licentiate in Arts (Geography) in 1969, a Master’s degree (First Class Honors) in 1973 and a Ph.D. (First Class Honors) in 1976. During his career, spanning nearly forty years, he assumed many academic, administrative, and executive tasks. As a faculty of Kuwait University, he progressed quickly from an Assistant Professor to full Professor of Geography at College of Arts, chaired the Geography Department, and became Dean of the College of Arts., He was also appointed a Minister of Education twice from 1996-1998 and from 1990-1991. Thereafter, he was appointed an Emeritus Professor of Geography in Kuwait University.

Professor Al-Ghunaim also served as a Director of the Arabic Manuscripts Institute of the Arab Organization for Education, Science and Culture, a Consultant to the National Council for Culture, Art and Literature, the Founder and Head of the Research and Translation Unit of the Geography Department in Kuwait University, a Member of the Board of Directors of the Manuscripts Museum in Alexandria Library, an Advisory Council of the Manuscripts Institute of the Arab League of Nations, a Board of Governors of the Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences, and many other advisory committees and cultural and scientific institutions. Besides, he founded the Research and Studies Center of the Kuwaiti Council of Ministers.

Professor Al-Ghunaim is a member of the Arabic Language Academies in Damascus and Egypt, the Russian Academy for Social Studies, the International Academic Council of the Islamic Studies Center at Oxford University, the Royal Academy of Al-Albayt Foundation for Islamic Thought, the Board of Directors of the Gulf University, Bahrain, and the Kuwaiti, Saudi, Egyptian, and American Geographical societies.

He is also Chief Editor of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies journal and a member of the Board of Directors of the Journal of Humanities, Editorial Board of Annals of the College of Arts, Kuwait University, Advisory Board of the Jordanian Journal of History and Archeology, Gulf Journal of Geography and Journal of Arabic Sciences and Humanities, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia, and a former member of the editorial boards of Al-Bayan and the Kuwaiti Arts and Education Journal. He participated in about 50 Arab and international conferences and symposia, and was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Science History at Harvard University, USA, and the Center for Islamic Studies at Oxford University, U.K., and a lecturer or an examiner of post-graduate studies in several Arab universities.

In addition to his numerous research publications, Professor Al-Ghunaim authored, critically edited, and or supervised many books dealing with Arabic and Islamic geographic legacy. He visited and carried out field studies in geographical and historic sites in Saudi Arabia. Yemen, Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Jordan. He also participated in developing sociology curricula in Gulf countries and in serving the community through his chairmanship of the Board of Directors of the Endowment Fund for Scientific and Social Development.

Professor Al-Ghunaim is acclaimed for his distinguished venture to revive ancient Arabic terms on shapes of the earth’s surface and adapt them to contemporary geography. This is the best exemplified by his Arabic texts: “The Pearls” and “Arabic Geographic Heritage,” in addition to his unprecedented record of earthquakes in his book “Arabic Register of Earthquakes.”

He was awarded the Accolade of Independence by the Jordanian Hashemite Kingdom (2013), Prize of the Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science for his contributions to Arab scientific heritage (1985), the Saudi Geographical Society Prize for Arab innovators (2004) and Prince Salman bin Abd Al-Aziz (now Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques) Prize for Studies on the history and geography of the Arabian Peninsula (2014). In the same year, he was named ” Heritage Personality of the Year” by the Arab Education, Science and Culture Organization.

 

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2016 -الشيخ الدكتور صالح بن عبد الله بن حميد -

H.E. Shaikh Dr. Saleh Abdullah bin Himeid

Saleh Bin Homaid completed his high school education in Makkah Al-Mukarramah in and graduated in 1972 from the College of Sharia in Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, where he continued his post-graduate studies and obtained a Master’s degree in Islamic Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and its Principles, and a Doctorate degree in Fiqh Sharia and its Principles in 1976 and 1981, respectively.

Then, he joined the academic staff of Umm Al-Qura University for a number of years during which he became a Chairman of the Islamic Economy Department, a Director of the Higher Islamic Studies Center, a Vice Dean of the Sharia College for Post-Graduate Studies, and the Dean of the College.

His Eminence Shaikh Bin Homaid was appointed as a Vice President of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques and a member of the Consultative (Shourah) Council. In 2000, he was appointed as a President General of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques and President of the Consultative Council the following year. He was also appointed as a President of the Supreme council of Justice from 2009 to 2012, and thereafter as an Advisor at the Royal Court. He is also the Grand Imam of the Holy Mosque in Makkah, a Member of the Commission of Senior Religious Scholars, the President of the Jeddah-based International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a Member of the Supreme Council of Mosques of the Islamic World League, the Sharia Committee of the International Islamic Relief Commission, and the Higher Authority for the Development of Makkah, in addition to serving as a teacher at the High Institute for Justice and a teacher and Mufti at the Holy Mosque in Makkah.

Some of his Eminence Shaikh Bin Homaid’s publication in service to Islam are: Mafhoom Al-Hikmah Fi Al-Da’wah, Risalah Fi Al-Athan, Al-Ta’awoun Bain Al-Dua’at, Al-Ria’yah Al-Ejtima’yah Fi Al-Islam, and Al-Haq Fi Al-Fiqh Al-Islami.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.