Indian American professor wins top honour for research on tumours

U.S. President Barack Obama will present the National Medal of Science to Rakesh K. Jain.

U.S. President Barack Obama will present the National Medal of Science to Rakesh K. Jain, an Indian American professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the tumour biology laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Prof. Jain, who holds a B.Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur, will receive the honour along with 16 other winners of the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a White House ceremony early next year. His MS and PhD degrees are from the University of Delaware.

A White House announcement on Tuesday described the medals as “our nation’s highest honours for achievement and leadership in advancing the fields of science and technology.”

“Science and technology are fundamental to solving some of our nation’s biggest challenges,” Mr. Obama said.

“The knowledge produced by these Americans today will carry our country’s legacy of innovation forward and continue to help countless others around the world. Their work is a testament to American ingenuity.”

Awarded annually, the National Medal of Science, created in 1959, recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and engineering.

Prof. Jain is regarded as a pioneer in the area of tumour micro-environment and widely recognized for his seminal discoveries in tumour biology, drug delivery, in vivo imaging and bioengineering. His work includes uncovering the barriers to the delivery and efficacy of molecular and nano-medicines in tumours, developing new strategies to overcome these barriers; and then translating these strategies from bench to bedside. A mentor to more than 200 students from over a dozen different disciplines, he has received 75 awards from engineering and medical professional societies and institutions.

Prof. Jain is a member of all three branches of the U.S. National Academies — the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences — and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2014, he was chosen as one of 50 oncology luminaries on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.