May 15, 2015, NEW YORK, NY — As part of its mission to bring together leading research and medical talent and institutions from the US and China as well as greater Asia, the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP Foundation) today announces that it has made its 2015 Fellowship and Project Awards in Geriatrics (under the Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health), Dermatology and Hematology. The Foundation has expanded to include Translational Medicine and Reproductive Medicine as additional funding areas and are announcing the first recipients of the awards in these categories.
The MMAAP Foundation, established in 2011 with the aim of facilitating exchanges and collaborations among the leading medical talents in the US and China, as well as Great Asia, has previously supported several outstanding Chinese researchers in Geriatrics, Dermatology, and Hematology. The Foundation’s funding areas are now expanded to include Translational Medicine and Reproductive Medicine in 2015. A number of Fellowships and Research Projects are awarded in the above areas each year. The Fellowship award supports one-year training for a promising investigator in clinical or basic research in the US at a distinguished host institution. The Project Award supports a research project conducted in China in partnership with a prominent US institution that will potentially produce measurable effect on health within 2 years.
“Mr. Howard P. Milstein, Chairman and founder of the MMAAP Foundation has the vision to bring together and fund exchanges among the best research, medical talent, and institutions in the regions. We would also like to thank China Wanxiang Holdings Co. Ltd for their generous contribution to support two fellowship awards under the Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health.” said Sean Leng, MD, President of the MMAAP Foundation. “This year’s recipients represent the most promising researchers in their respective fields and will play an integral role in furthering medical research and strengthening relations between the US and Asia”.
Grant applications were evaluated through a two-step peer review process according to the National Institutes of Health standards. All proposals were jointly reviewed by Chinese and US experts in each field. The highest-ranked applications, selected by the Chinese panels, were then reviewed by a panel of experts in the US with the finalists submitted for approval by the MMAAP Foundation. The US panels in Geriatrics, Dermatology, Hematology, Reproductive Medicine, and Translational Medicine include members of the American Geriatrics Society, Medical Advisory Committee of American Skin Association, the New York Blood Center, and the Jones Foundation respectively, as well as members of other leading US institutions in each field.
For more information on the MMAAP Foundation, please visit www.mmaapf.org.
AWARDEES
2015 Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health Awards in Geriatric Medicine
Research Project Award
Project Name: Reliability, validity, and diagnostic utility of five brief dementia screening tools in Chinese primary care: A comparative study
Principal Investigator: Baoliang Zhong, MD, MS, PhD
Chinese Institution: Wuhan Mental Health Center
US Institution: University of Rochester School of Medicine
Fellowship Awards
Project Name: Healthspan-extension compound icariin as a neuroprotectant for Parkinson’s disease
Recipient: Waijiao Cai, MD, PhD
Chinese Institution: Aging and Age-related Diseases Research Center/Integrated, Chinese and Western Medicine Institute, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University
US Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University
Project Name: Role of Autophagy in the inhibition of cytomegalovirus-induced cellular senescence by resveratrol
Recipient: Haiyan Zhang, MD, PhD
Chinese Institution: the 1st Affiliated of Hospital, China Medical University
US Institution: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Project Name: Risk factors for Cognitive Aging: What Big Data Analytics Reveal
Recipient: Jinlei Li, PhD
Chinese Institution: Peking Union School of Public Health
US Institution: The Framingham Heart Study in Boston University School of Medicine
2015 Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation Awards in Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology
Research Project Award
Project Name: The role and molecular mechanism of TOX in mycosis fungoides
Principal Investigator: Jie Liu MD, PhD
Chinese Institution: Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College
US Institution: Department of Dermatology, Medical College of Wisconsin
Fellowship Award
Project Name: Characterization of Age-associated Matrisome in Human Skin
Recipient: Yan Yan, MD
Chinese Institution: Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College
US Institution: The Department of Dermatology, University of Michigan Medical School
2015 Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation Awards in Hematology
Research Project Award
Project Name: Mechanism of the effects of donor KIR3DL1 alleles and host HLA alleles interaction on preventing relapse after unmanipulated haploidentical transplantation
Principal Investigator: Xiangyu- Zhao MD, PhD
Chinese Institution: Peking University Institute of Hematology
US Institution: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Fellowship Award
Project Name: Application of Molecular Engineering and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer in the Immunotherapy of Lymphoma
Recipient: Junmin Li, PhD
Institution: Ruijin Hospital affiliated to School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
US Institution: Dept. of Bioengineering, Institute of Engineering in Medicine, University of California at San Diego
2015 Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation Awards in Translational Medicine
Research Project Award
Project Name: Local inhibition of complement to improve outcomes of MSCbased therapy for autoimmune uveitis
Principal Investigator: Xiaorong Li, PhD, MD
Chinese Institution: Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital & Eye Institute
US Institution: Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Fellowship Award
Project Name: Combining Immune Checkpoint inhibition with Oncolytic Immuno-stimulation for Glioma Therapy
Recipient: Yuhui Zhang, MD
Chinese Institution: Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University
US Institution: Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
2015 Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation Awards in Reproductive Medicine
Fellowship Award
Project Name: The new strategy of treatment for fetal genetic diseases: preimplantation genetic treatment (PGT)
Recipient: Xin Chen, MD, MSc
Institution: Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University
US Institution: Yale School of Medicine
About the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP Foundation)
The mission of the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP Foundation) is to improve world health by developing mutually beneficial partnerships between the US and China, as well as greater Asia. Working with some of the premier health organizations in the world, the MMAAP Foundation brings together and funds exchanges among the best research, medical talent, and institutions in the regions. This strategy is a high priority for the MMAAP Foundation’s founders, Howard P. Milstein and the Paul Milstein Family. The MMAAP Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For more than 50 years, the Milstein family has been actively involved in health-related and medical philanthropy. The MMAAP Foundation builds upon this distinguished history in five areas: Senior Healthcare, Skin Disease and Melanoma, Reproductive Biology, Blood Research, and Translational Medicine. The MMAAP Foundation works in close collaboration with other medical organizations supported by the Milstein family, including American Skin Association, the Milstein Melanoma Research Program at the Rockefeller University, the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, New York Blood Center, and the Program for Translational Chemical Biology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. For more information, please visit MMAAP Foundation’s website at www.mmaapf.org.