By Yun Suh-young
A Korean professor was selected as one of the first recipients of a research support program for top biomedical scientists by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the U.S. institute said Wednesday.
Oh Dong-chan, a professor at the Department of Medicine at Seoul National University, will receive the International Early Career Scientist (IECS) award at the institute renowned for its role in advancing scientific research and education.
The selected 28 recipients from 12 countries were chosen from 760 applicants.
“These are the people who, 10 years from now, we expect will be the scientific leaders in their countries,” said Robert Tjian, president of HHMI, in a statement.
Oh has a doctoral degree from California State University in chemical oceanography.
The 28 awardees, who have had the experience of running their own labs for less than seven years, will each receive $650,000 in total starting from February this year.
Founded in 1953, HHMI is a non-profit medical research organization known to spend one of the largest amounts on research. The IECS award is a program created last year to award top scientists from 18 countries who have degrees from the U.S.