Helsinki University’s Kari Alitalo was among a group of five internationally renowned scientists to receive Heineken prizes for medical science bestowed by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The 200,000-euro award was granted for Alitalo’s groundbreaking research and major accomplishments in the field of science.
Alitalo, who is a Professor of the Finnish Academy of Sciences, is one of the world’s most cited cancer and molecular biology researchers. The Dutch Academy recognised his research, which focuses particularly on growth factors for lymph and blood vessels and how that knowledge can help find means of treating cancer and other diseases.
Alitalo has been a recipient of other scientific awards, including the Leopold Griffuel Prize in 2002, the 2006 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the 2005 Eric Fernström Foundation's Nordic Prize and the In-Bev Baillet Latour Health Prize in 2009.