The Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation presented the 2018 Manpei Suzuki International Prize for Diabetes Research to Dr. Phillip E. Scherer, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Gifford O. Touchstone Jr. and Randolph G. Touchstone Distinguished Chair in Diabetes Research, Director, Touchstone Diabetes Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, at the ceremony held on March 6, in Tokyo, Japan.

After Mr. Takashi Shoda, the president of Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation delivered the opening remarks, Dr. Hiroshi Yamamoto, the chair of the Selection Committee of the prize, presented the reason for bestowing the 2018 Prize on Dr. Phillip E. Scherer. Mr. Shoda gave a Certificate of Honor, US$150,000, and a Japanese objet d’art to Dr. Phillip E. Scherer.

【Reason for bestowing】
The Selection Committee highly recognized his pioneering contributions to identifying adiponectin, and to discovering this adipokine’s insulin-sensitizing, anti-diabetic function and the molecular mechanism behind it, all of which, together with his recent scientific achievements, have both deepened and widened our understanding of diabetes,　obesity and energy homeostasis.

Award Ceremony: Opening Remarks
Mr. Takashi Shoda, President of the Foundation

Award Ceremony: Selection Committee Chairman’s Report
Dr. Hiroshi Yamamoto, Chair of the Selection Committee

Award Ceremony

Award Ceremony: Greeting of the Winner
Dr. Phillip E. Scherer
Dr. Phillip E. Scherer provided the award lecture entitled “Diabetes – Orchestrating the Dissonance Amongst the Adipokines”

Award Lecture:
Chair Dr. Hiroshi Yamamoto
Speaker Dr. Phillip E. Scherer

Dr. Phillip E. Scherer with members of Selection Committees and the Foundation
at Keidanren Hall in Tokyo

Seated, left to right
Hiroshi Yamamoto
Chairman of the Selection Committee
Komatsu University
Phillip E. Scherer
Winner of the Prize
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Takashi Shoda
President, Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation

Back row, left to right
Yasushi Hasebe
Managing Director, Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation
Toshihiko Yada
Member of the Selection Committee
Kansai Electric Power Medical Institute
Takashi Kadowaki
Member of the Selection Committee
The University of Tokyo
Susumu Seino
Member of the Selection Committee
Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine