Professor Dr Alexander Knuth, medical director of National Centre for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), has been awarded the prestigious Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Medal 2013-14 at a ceremony in Hanover, Germany.

The award, named after Swiss physician, scholar, philosopher and writer Johann Georg Zimmermann from Aarau, has been sponsored since 1972 by Deutsche Hypothekenbank (Actien-Gesellschaft). Zimmermann had worked in Hanover from 1768 to 1795.

Professor Knuth is a specialist in the treatment of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and in cancer immunology. Together with colleagues, he played a pivotal role in the discovery of human cancer antigens and in the development of novel approaches to cancer immunotherapy.

During the award ceremony, prizes were presented to the winners by Professor Christopher Baum, president of the MHH Foundation, and German Mortgage Bank board chairman Andreas Rehfuss.

Many prominent researchers have previously been honoured with this award, including Nobel Prize winner for Medicine (2008) Professor Dr Harald zur Hausen, who received the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Medal in 2006/07.

Professor Knuth is no stranger to awards, having received the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Prize for young investigators in 1984, together with Professor Dr Wolfgang Dippold, for their work on “Malignant Melanoma – Prospects For Antigen Specific Immunodiagnostics and Immunotherapy”.

“I am honoured and touched to be the recipient of the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Medal 2013/14,” said Professor Knuth.

 

 

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