The Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance,courageous service to the people,and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund based in New York City with the concurrence of the Philippine government. It is often called the "Nobel Prize of Asia".
Viswanathan Shanta was an Indian oncologist and the chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute,Chennai. She is best known for her efforts towards making quality and affordable cancer treatment accessible to all patients in her country. She dedicated herself to the mission of organizing care for cancer patients,study of the disease,research on its prevention and cure,spreading awareness about the disease,and developing specialists and scientists in various subspecialties of oncology. Her work won her several awards,including the Magsaysay Award,Padma Shri,Padma Bhushan,and Padma Vibhushan,the second highest civilian award given by the Government of India.
Thomas Earl Starzl was an American physician,researcher,and expert on organ transplants. He performed the first human liver transplants,and has often been referred to as "the father of modern transplantation." A documentary,entitled "Burden of Genius," covering the medical and scientific advances spearheaded by Starzl himself,was released to the public in 2017 in a series of screenings. Dr. Starzl also penned his autobiography,"The Puzzle People:Memoirs Of A Transplant Surgeon," which was published in 1992.
Harvey James Alter is an American medical researcher,virologist,physician and Nobel Prize laureate,who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the former chief of the infectious disease section and the associate director for research of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda,Maryland. In the mid-1970s,Alter and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A or hepatitis B viruses. Working independently,Alter and Edward Tabor,a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,proved through transmission studies in chimpanzees that a new form of hepatitis,initially called "non-A,non-B hepatitis" caused the infections,and that the causative agent was probably a virus. This work eventually led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1988,for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2020 along with Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice.
The University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMMC) College of Medicine is a private medical college within the UERM Memorial Medical Center in the Philippines. Recognized as a Center of Excellence in Research by the Department of Science and Technology and has Level IV Accreditation by PAASCU. It is the first and only private medical school with a Level IV PAASCU Accredited Program.
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) is a public medical university in Chandigarh,India. It is an 'Institute of National Importance'. It has educational,medical research,and training facilities for its students including all specialties,super specialties and sub specialties. It is the leading tertiary care hospital of the northern India region and caters to patients from all over Punjab,Jammu and Kashmir,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Haryana,Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Apart from the clinical services,PGI also provides training in almost all disciplines of medicine including post graduate and post doctoral degrees,diplomas,Doctor of Philosophy and fellowships. There are more than 50 such training courses in the institute. The 100-seat MBBS college is expected to start by 2025 at PGI's satellite centre in Sarangpur.
Fe Villanueva del Mundo,,was a Filipino pediatrician. She founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines and is known for shaping the modern child healthcare system in the Philippines. Her pioneering work in pediatrics in the Philippines while in active medical practice spanned eight decades. She gained international recognition,including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1977. In 1980,she was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines,and in 2010,she was conferred the Order of Lakandula. She was the first female president of the Philippine Pediatric Society and the first woman to be named National Scientist of the Philippines in 1980. She was also the founder and the first president of the Philippine Pediatric Society,the first Asian to be elected president of the Philippine Medical Association in its 65-years existence,and the first Asian to be voted president of the Medical Woman's International Association.
Prakash Baba Amte is a social worker from Maharashtra,India. Amte and his wife,Mandakini Amte,were awarded the Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership' in 2008 for their philanthropic work in the form of the Lok Biradari Prakalp amongst the Madia Gonds in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the neighbouring states of Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. In November 2019 he was awarded with ICMR Lifetime Achievement Award by Bill Gates.
Arturo Pineda Alcaraz was a Filipino volcanologist known for his work on geothermal energy. He received the 1982 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service.
Chang Kee-ryo was a surgeon,educator,and philanthropist of South Korea. He established Gospel Hospital,in Busan,Korea,in 1951,during the Korean War. In 1979,he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award "for his practical,personal Christian charity and in founding the Blue Cross Health Cooperative in Pusan".
Robert Palmer Beasley was an American physician,public health educator and epidemiologist whose work on hepatitis B involved extensive investigations in Taiwan. That work established that hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a primary cause of liver cancer and that hepatitis B virus is transmitted from mother to infant during childbirth. Beasley and his colleagues also proved that HBV mother-to-infant transmission is preventable by at-birth vaccination. Due to this work,the World Health Assembly designated HBV as the seventh global vaccine in 1992. He later became the author of HBV immunization policies for the World Health Organization.
Rajnikant Shankarrao Arole was born in Supa in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra,India on 10 July 1934,the second child of Shankar and Leelawati Salve Arole. His parents were both schoolteachers and his father became Inspector of Schools. The Aroles raised their three sons and four daughters in the faith of the Church of England,inculcating in them Christian ethical and spiritual values that have guided Rajnikant through a lifetime of public service.
Angel Chua Alcala was a Filipino biologist who was named a National Scientist of the Philippines in 2014. Alcala is known for his fieldwork to build sanctuaries and to promote biodiversity in the aquatic ecosystems of the Philippines. He was the Chairman of the Board of Advisers at the Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management located in Silliman University. Alcala published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and books and his biological contributions to the environment and ecosystems have made him a renowned figure of natural sciences in the Philippines.
Jay Houston Hoofnagle is an American Doctor of Medicine. He is a leading expert in hepatotoxicity,hepatitis,cirrhosis and other diseases of the liver,and director of the Liver Disease Research Branch in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at the National Institutes of Health.
Romulo Gelbolingo Davide is a philanthropist,scientist and leader for the poor farmers of the Philippines who is a recipient of the renowned Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2012. He was a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity. He is the older brother of Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide,Jr.
Phon Sangsingkeo is a Thai medical doctor whose studies on factors that contribute to the mental well-being of a person earned him the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 1966. His holistic approach led him to integrate how the rapid advancement of technology and cultural changes affect mental health,resulting in a more humane treatment of mental patients thus putting the dictum "treat the person as a person" in practice. For this,he is known as the father of modern psychiatry in Thailand.
Shiv Kumar Sarin is an Indian gastroenterologist,hepatologist,translational scientist,researcher and teacher. He set up the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and the Padma Bhushan. He served as chairman of the Board of Governors of Medical Council of India. He was the president of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver and founder of Asian Pacific School of Hepatology.
Sanjeev Arora,MD,MACP,FACG,an Indian American physician,is the founder and director of Project ECHO,a global tele-mentoring nonprofit dedicated to disseminating knowledge in rural and under-resourced communities.
Ding-Shinn Chen was a Taiwanese hepatologist.
Ravi Kannan R is an Indian surgical oncologist,based in Assam. He is the director of Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (CCHRC),Silchar,a nonprofit hospital,that provides free cancer treatment. He is the former Head of Department of surgical oncology at Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai. He is a recipient of Padma Shri,one of India's highest civilian honours,and the Ramon Magsaysay Award,the highest award in Asia.
