American Immunologist Wins King Faisal Prize Major Award for Outstanding Research Work in Cancer Treatment

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, January 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Professor James P. Allison, the 'Vivian L. Smith Distinguished' Chair of the Department of Immunology, USA, has been named as the winner of the King Faisal Prize 2018 for Medicine for his vast contributions to humanity and medicine through his research work in the field of Immunotherapy for Cancer.

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     (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/630983/Professor_James_P__Allison.jpg )

Prof. Allison, who is also the Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, has identified CTLA4 as an inhibitory receptor of T-cells and pioneered the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of a range of cancers. He has published over 250 peer reviewed articles on Immunotherapy for Cancer in major scientific journals.

A member of the editorial board of several reputable scientific journals, Prof. Allison has won over 60 other awards and honors, including the Sjoberg Prize for Cancer Research by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Wolf Prize for Medicine from Wolf Foundation in 2017.

The King Faisal Prize has so far honoured 67 researchers for their contributions to the development of medical science. Since the first prize in the Medicine category was awarded over 35 years ago, the award has helped draw global attention to outstanding research work related to crucial topics such as cancer treatment, coronary artery disease, organ transplantation, prevention of allergies and gene therapy. Scientists who were awarded the King Faisal Prize have in subsequent years gone on to receive other prestigious awards, including the Nobel.

About King Faisal Prize 

King Faisal Prize was established in 1977 by the King Faisal Foundation (KFF), a philanthropic organization founded in 1976 by the sons and daughters of the late King Faisal bin Abdulaziz, as a tribute to their father. The Prize was granted for the first time in 1979 in three categories: Service to Islam, Islamic Studies and Arabic Language and Literature. In 1981, a prize in Medicine and a prize in Science were added. The Medicine prize was awarded the following year, in 1982, whereas the Science prize was awarded in 1984.

Nora Sankour, [email protected] , +971-568-797-444

SOURCE King Faisal Prize