Mr. President of the Republic,

Your Beatitude,

Dear guests,

The candidates’ evaluation process for the presentation of the First Award of the Nemitsas Foundation in Medical Sciences was lengthy and arduous. This was due on the one hand to the large number of candidates and on the other hand due to their exceptionally high level of scientific achievements, of which Cyprus should be very proud.

The International Prize Selection Committee approached personalities of international repute in the subject of each candidate, and asked them to evaluate, independently between them, the candidates’ work. International personalities, from the wide spectrum of Medical Sciences, gave a detailed and meticulous opinion on the scientific achievements of the candidates on the basis of internationally accepted scientific criteria.

Following a long and arduous procedure and on the basis of the evaluations the International Prize Selection Committee received from the assessors, it recommended that the Board of Directors of the Foundation award Professor Eleftherios Diamandis, head of Clinical Biochemistry of the Medical School at Toronto University in Canada for his accomplishments in Fundamental Biomedical Research and Professor Kypros Nicolaides, head of the foetal medicine department at University College in London, for his achievements in Clinical Medical Research.

Professor Eleftherios Diamandis is internationally recognised for his work and his contribution to the early detection of forms of cancer, using pioneering genetic and molecular diagnostic methods.

Professor Kypros Nicolaides is considered as having introduced and established foetal medicine into the international arena, achieving the early detection of possible abnormalities during gestation.

I sincerely congratulate the worthy Cypriot scientists who have been given these awards on my own behalf, as chairman of the International Prize Selection Committee and on behalf of my associates, Professor Fotis Kafatos, holder of the Chair in Immunology and Genomics at Imperial College, London, Vice President of the committee, and the members of the committee, comprising of Professor Eleni Liapi holder of the Chair in Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine at St Louis, in the United States, Professor of Neurology Lefkos Middleton holder of the Chair in Clinical Neurology at the Ageing Research Department of Imperial College in London, and Professor Ioannis Mandas, holder of the Chair in Health Informatics at the University of Athens.

On behalf of the International Prize Selection Committee, I heartily thank the Nemitsas Foundation for the honour it has bestowed upon us in entrusting us with this mission, and Professor Antonis Constantinides of Imperial College, London, for his supportive contribution to the successful completion of our task.

Nick Bouras

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry

Institute of Psychiatry – King’s College London

David Goldberg Centre

HSRP Department

PO 27

London SE5 8AF