During the 2015 Grand Challenges Meeting held in Beijing on October 19, 2015, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-hosted a ceremony to honor 50 outstanding young scientists from China with with ‘2015 Grand Challenge -Young Scientist Award’. Dr. Dehua Yang, Associate Professor at the National Center for Drug Screening, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as Professor Qiang Zhao of SIMM, was among the list of recipients. Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the foundation together with Vice Minister Laiwu Zhang presented the certificates of award at the ceremony.

This is the first time that Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation held the Grand Challenge annual meeting in China. The winners, all under the age of 45, are recognized for their outstanding research achievements and innovative potential in life and health sciences, in order to encourage them to continue their commitment in advancing global health and modern agriculture.