It is with our greatest honor to announce the winner of CHPAMS’s 2018 Inspiration Award, Dr. Yaojiang Shi.
CHPAMS established the Inspiration Award in August 2016 to recognize members’ extraordinary determination to challenge the “status quo”, overcome significant barriers and achieve accomplishments in scientific research, community service, or innovative activities that are above and beyond the expectation. The Inspiration Award was exclusively funded through member donations. In January 2019, CHPAMS started the nomination process and formed a five-member Award Committee that was made up of CHPAMS President Dr. Xi Chen and four distinguished researchers as below.
Teh-Wei Hu, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Health Economics, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health
Gordon Liu, PhD, Yangtze River Scholar Professor of Economics, Director of China Center for Health Economics Research, Peking University National School of Development
Winnie Yip, PhD, Professor of the Practice of International Health Policy and Economics, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health
Hai Yu, MD, PhD, Professor, Director of International Education Program and Director of Center of Distance Education, Zhejiang University School of Medicine
We received three highly quality nominations. All the individuals and team members being nominated have exemplified perseverance, dedication, and leadership in their impressive achievements and accomplishments. After independent assessments, the Award Committee selected Dr. Yaojiang Shi as the winner of the 2018 CHPAMS Inspiration Award.
Prof. Shi is a visionary and persistent researcher who has made significant contributions to health and welfare of low-income children, especially in Northwest China. He achieved a distinct but successful research career path by giving up opportunities in business and public service. More than three decades ago, he started collaborations with eminent American researchers, including Dr. Scott Rozelle, while the region was still experiencing extreme poverty and short of any research resources at that time. With his leadership, he has built an active research center almost from the scratch and overcome significant challenges in government support, research resources, and team building to implement series of large randomized controlled trials to improve health and welfare of the vulnerable children in China. He has demonstrated high academic integrity and was respected by peers and junior researchers as the role model. His vision, courage, and persistence in research makes him highly qualified for this award.
Congratulations to Dr. Yaojiang Shi!