Professor Nick Lemoine from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has been awarded the China Friendship Award - the country’s highest award for ‘foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress’.
The Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai presented the award, which was followed by an official meeting with Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
Professor Lemoine, who is Director of Barts Cancer Institute at QMUL, was also elected as a Foreign Academician by the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Academician is the highest academic title in China, and elected members are considered to have made significant and creative achievements and contributions in the fields of engineering and technological sciences.
His election is in recognition of his work on engineering new therapies for cancer in the Sino-British Center for Molecular Oncology, established as a joint venture between QMUL and Zhengzhou University in 2006.
Professor Lemoine is only the fifth British scientist to have received this honour. Others on the list this year are Bill Gates, Dame Ann Dowling and Leo Rafael Reif (President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
On receiving the award, Professor Lemoine said: “For me to receive this National Friendship award is a great recognition of the research achievements by the teams in Queen Mary University of London and the Academy of Medical Sciences at Zhengzhou University. I am also very proud and honoured to have been elected as a Chinese Academician at the same time as Bill Gates, Dame Ann Dowling and Leo Rafael Reif.”
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