Professor honoured Virus expert Prof Emeritus Prasert Thongcharoen - of the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital - has been handed the Mahidol-B Braun Award for his academic achievements in studying and identifying several viral diseases, including Aids and Sars.
Prasert, who has been working in his field for 40 years, will be presented with the award by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, and will receive Bt700,000 in prize money at a Mahidol University graduation ceremony on July 6. The Mahidol-B Braun Award has been given to academics in the medical field in Thailand for 14 years. Prasert identified a new type of measles in Thailand in 1967 and later successfully produced a vaccine to deter it. He also had the same success with a new type of "red eye" disease over the following two years. In addition, Prasert invented a laboratory-based means that made identification of rabies and polio more accurate.
