Eleven individuals and one team were recently presented with awards by the Hong Kong-based Qiu Shi Science and Technologies Foundation at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, the capital of East China's Anhui province.

An 83-year-old doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine was granted the most prestigious award. Zhang Tingdong, from the First Clinical Hospital affiliated to Harbin Medical University, received the Outstanding Scientist Award and 1 million yuan ($157,200) for his contribution to the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia, a cancer that affects white blood cells, with arsenic trioxide, which the foundation called "a major breakthrough in medical science".

Zhang's research began in the 1970s, when he discovered that leukemia prescriptions issued by a number of experienced TCM doctors contained arsenic trioxide, which is highly toxic.

Later, during research and clinical trials Zhang discovered that the inorganic compound was effective in curing APL, but much more work was required to improve efficiency and reduce side effects.

In the 1990s, Zhang collaborated with some of the China's leading medical research institutes and succeeded in creating medicines made from arsenic trioxide and retinoic acid to treat APL. The treatments "have been long regarded by the world as standard medicines in the treatment of the disease ever since", said Shi Yigong, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice-president of Tsinghua University.

Shi, who is also a top life scientist and an adviser to the Qiu Shi foundation, said the APL recovery rate using Zhang's treatment reached more than 90 percent, and Zhang has cured more than 1,200 leukemia patients.

The Outstanding Scientific Research Team Award went to the Hepatitis E Vaccine team at Xiamen University - the inventors of the world's first vaccine for recombinant hepatitis E, which went on the market in 2012.

Ten other scientists from seven universities and institutes received Outstanding Young Scholar Awards.

"The peculiarity of the Qiu Shi awards lies in its unofficial background and its role as a supplement to the official science and technology awards system", said Ma Mingming, 35, a chemistry professor at USTC.

Ma was recognized for his research in bio-inspired polymer composite actuator and generator driven by water gradients. He will receive $150,000 from the Qiu Shi foundation over three years to support further research.

The ceremony was also attended by renowned scientists such as Chen Ning Yang - a Nobel laureate in physics, and Sun Jiadong, laureate of the nation's Two Bombs, One Satellite Award. (China Daily)