Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP Foundation) Announces First Fellowship And Project Awards

NEW YORK, Feb. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its mission to bring together leading research and medical talent and institutions from the United States and Asia, the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP Foundation) today announced that it has made its inaugural fellowship and translational medicine project awards.

This year's fellowship award sponsors a Chinese physician/investigator in geriatrics for one-year training at a leading medical institution in the United States. The translational medicine project award will fund a research project in China with potential for immediate implementation into geriatrics clinical practice and significant impact on senior health.

For this first round of MMAAP Foundation awards, Johns Hopkins University will act as both the sponsoring institution for the Fellow and the partnering institution for the clinical project award. The Visiting Fellow will be trained at Dr. Sean Leng's laboratory in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  Dr. Leng serves as Vice Chair and Chief Operating Officer of MMAAP Foundation.

The geriatrics awards are the first in a series of fellowships and project grants that the MMAAP Foundation will award in the coming months and years, in five areas: Senior Healthcare, Skin Disease and Melanoma, Reproductive Biology, Blood Research and Medicine, and Infectious Disease/Translational Medicine. Applications for the next round of awards, in the area of Skin Disease and Melanoma, are due on March 1, 2013, with awards expected to be announced in May 2013.

"With these grants, the Milstein Medical Asian-American Partnership Foundation takes a first step toward advancing understanding of some of the most important medical issues facing humankind," said Howard P. Milstein, Chairman of the MMAAP Foundation. "We are building a bridge connecting institutions in Asia and the United States in areas where we can show true progress and results."

Kathleen Reichert, Spokesperson for the MMAAP Foundation, said: "Aging and its health consequences are top challenges to modern medicine that affect every person and family across the globe. China has the largest aging population in the world. The Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health of the MMAAP Foundation will promote much needed development of geriatric medicine and aging research in China."

Awardees

The Fellowship Award was given to Genxiang Mao, MD, of Zhejiang Provincial Key Lab of Geriatrics at Zhejiang Hospital, for a project entitled "A New Strategy for Delaying Cellular Senescence: Modulating Mitochondrial Biogenesis." The award provides support for the fellow in the amount of $60,000, accompanied by a grant of $25,000 to the sponsoring U.S. institution.

The Translational Research Project Award was given to Peking Union Medical College Hospital, with principal investigator Professor Xiaohong Liu, for a project entitled "Development of a Chinese At-Home Senior Care Model for Community-Dwelling Disabled Older Adults." The award will provide support for the project in the amount of $50,000, with support for the U.S. partner institution in the amount of $10,000.

In both cases, grant applications, due on November 1, 2012, were reviewed by a panel of Chinese experts in geriatrics. The top three applications were then reviewed in English by a U.S. panel of experts, with the finalist submitted for approval by the MMAAP Foundation.

About the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation
(MMAAP Foundation)

The mission of the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP Foundation) is to improve world health by developing mutually beneficial partnerships between the United States and China, as well as greater Asia. Working with some of the premier health organizations in the world, the MMAAP Foundation brings together and funds exchanges among the best research, medical talent, and institutions in the regions. This strategy is a high priority for the MMAAP Foundations' founders, Howard P. Milstein and the Paul Milstein Family. For more than 50 years, the Milstein family has been actively involved in health and medical-related philanthropy. The MMAAP Foundation builds upon this distinguished history in five areas: Senior Healthcare, Skin Disease and Melanoma, Reproductive Biology, Blood Research, and Translational Medicine.

The MMAAP Foundation works in close collaboration with other medical organizations supported by the Milstein family, including  American Skin Association, the Milstein Melanoma Research Program at the Rockefeller University, the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine,  New York Blood Center, and the Program for Translational Chemical Biology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. For more information, please visit MMAAP Foundation's website at www.mmaapf.org.

SOURCE Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation