About Kiyoko Goto and Paul Bourdarie Scientific Prize
Our foundation awards prizes to Japanese medical scientists/doctors engaged in basic and clinical practices who have published excellent cancer research papers contributing to the elimination of all forms of cancer (lung cancer in particular).
Origin
The origin of the Foundation flows from the tragic event of Paul Bourdarie having lost his beloved wife Kiyoko Goto to a lung cancer when she was 66. Hoping to eliminate cancer, in all forms, and avoid tragedies like Kiyoko’s case, and in memory of his beloved wife, Paul Bourdarie made the initial monetary contribution and established the Foundation.
Paul Bourdarie hopes that our foundation will support cancer treatment and research, achieving breakthroughs in both basic and clinical practices. He also hopes that the Foundation can serve as a basis for building and strengthening the friendship between Japan and France, making it stronger ever than before. With these hopes, he has advocated that one French person be included among the Advisory Committee members. Based on careful consideration, Paul Bourdarie has recommended Professor Bertrand Dautzenberg, at the University of Paris Hospital, from the Resuscitation Science of Respiratory Medicine Department, as our first French Committee member*. This recommendation from Paul Bourdarie enables the Committee to become an international committee, in which Japanese medical scientists and a renowned professor in clinical practices from Paris can freely discuss subjects together. To take advantage of this international-minded Advisory Committee, we have implemented measures, as described below, since the inception of the Committee.
*Professor Bertrand Dautzenberg resigned from the advisory committee as of June 2024, due to the expiration of his term of office. Professor Elie Fadel has been appointed as his successor.
To Ensure the Internationality of the Advisory Committee
The Foundation will give the following authorities to the French member of the Committee.
The French member can add one paper to those that were selected by Japanese members during the first selection round, whenever he/she thinks it is reasonable to do so.
When voting for winners during the final selection round, the French member has the right and the authority to award one and half times as many points as each of the Japanese members has.
Paper Selection
In Article 4 of our Articles of Incorporation, the mission of the Foundation is stated as follows: By supporting and recognizing Japanese medical scientists/doctors engaged in basic and clinical practices who have published excellent papers on cancer treatments and preventive measures (lung cancers in particular), the Foundation contributes to eliminating all forms of cancer.
We will accept a wide range of cancer research papers as being eligible for this competition, so long as they have the potential to contribute to the elimination of cancer (lung cancers in particular), and the main author satisfies our requirements.
Our Advisory Committee, consisting of seven members, will evaluate properly submitted papers. The Chairperson of the Committee has an equal right in voting for the winner of the competition, which means that no special privileges are given to the Chairperson of the Committee.
In our evaluation and selection of papers, the one and only crucial point is the magnitude of the paper’s potential contribution to the elimination of cancer (lung cancers in particular) in the future. Our criteria do not include either the reputations of the authors or comments made regarding the paper/author in the past. The author’s age, gender, and academic/career history are not included among our criteria.
Allow us to emphasize again that the impact on the contribution to eliminating cancer is the only interest that Committee members have when reviewing submitted papers. Based on their intellect, experiences and academic attainments, each Committee member will evaluate papers and select finalists. Thereby, the winner(s) will ultimately be selected.
