Photo courtesy of Universiti Malaya
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) has congratulated Dr Chan Yoke Fun for winning the prestigious ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women 2020 recently.
MOSTI, in a statement Thursday, said it hoped the award would motivate Dr Chan and her team to scale new heights in their scientific journey.
It also hoped her winning the award would spur further interest among national research institutions and researchers especially female scientists to contribute more quality researches in the field of science and technology.
Dr Chan, the head of the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine, received a US$20,000 cash award for her feat.
Dr Chan focused her research on developing a vaccine to combat a virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease, and brain infection diseases in children, according to the statement.
“Furthermore, she has worked with local experts to raise awareness about the dangers and prevention of the virus in her community,” it said.
Introduced in 2014, the annual ASEAN-U.S. Science Prize for Women aims to strengthen ASEAN science and technology capacity as well as gender equality and improvement.
The prize seeks to award two talented, promising and early-to-mid-career female scientists from the ASEAN region working in applied science as a recognition of their academic and professional achievements.
–NNN-BERNAMA