Honored for innovative cancer treatment research earlier in the week, Dr. Mendelsohn was co-awarded the prestigious $1 million Dan David Prize alongside cancer researcher Dr. Joseph Schlessinger at Tel Aviv University.

A joint international enterprise endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University, the prize recognizes and encourages innovative and interdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms. It aims to foster universal values of excellence, creativity, justice, democracy and progress and to promote the scientific, technological and humanistic achievements that advance and improve our world.

Now in its fifth year, the prize covers three time dimensions--Past, Present and Future--with each representing realms of human achievement. Mendelsohn, the President of University of Texas MD Anderson's Cancer Center and Schlessinger, the program director of the Signal Transduction and Drug Discovery Research Program at Yale Cancer Center, were recognized in the "future" category.

World-renowned cellist YoYo Ma was honored in the Past dimension category and a group of four journalists were honored for Present dimension endeavors. Present at the ceremony was Israel's president Moshe Katzav, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and a corps of diplomats and celebrities.

"I thank Dan David for bringing together people from different backgrounds and specialties that share in common a passion for making the world a better place," Dr. Mendelsohn told audience members in his acceptance speech.

A cancer researcher since the late 60's, Mendelsohn is considered a pioneer in his field. He has spent three decades applying molecular biology
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Contact: Matt Dorf
202-669-6553
Tel-Aviv University
24-May-2006