Chinese-French Team Receives 2026 Shaw Prize for Life Science and Medicine

According to the South China Morning Post, the Chinese and French recipients of the 2026 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine emphasized the concept of "borderless connections" and friendship in their research, which successfully changed a rare form of leukemia from a fatal condition to one that is widely curable.

During an awards ceremony held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu was present as the life scientists celebrated their breakthrough, describing it as an "East meets West" success story and advocating for collaboration to address worldwide problems.

The winning team consisted of French molecular biologist Anne Dejean, who is a professor emerita at the Institut Pasteur, a biomedical research center in Paris; French doctor and researcher Hugues de The, who holds the position of professor and chair of cellular and molecular oncology at the College de France and Hospital Saint Louis in Paris; and haematologist Zhu Chen, a professor at Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. The prize was announced earlier this year.