Leading Geneticist Francis Collins Named First Recipient of the Inamori Ethics Prize at Case Western Reserve ...( CLEVELAND April 9 /- Francis S. C...)

CLEVELAND, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. a physician-geneticist and leader of the Human Genome Project, has been named recipient of the inaugural Inamori Ethics Prize from the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080409/CLW060 )

The Inamori Ethics Prize honors outstanding international ethical leaders. It is presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated exemplary ethical leadership and whose actions and influence have greatly improved the condition of humankind. The Inamori Ethics Prize carries with it a $25,000 cash award, intended to support the ongoing work of the Prize recipient.

A ceremony recognizing Collins will be held in conjunction with an ethics and genetics symposium and lecture September 4, 2008 at Severance Hall, on the Case Western Reserve campus.

"Dr. Collins' reputation as a principled leader of the Human Genome Project and the understanding that the Human Genome Project holds enormous potential for the improvement of humankind, make him an ideal recipient of the first Inamori Ethics Prize," said Gregory L. Eastwood, M.D., director of the Inamori Center.

Noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes, Collins serves as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His laboratory is dedicated to researching both rare and common diseases and has discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, adult onset diabetes and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a dramatic form of premature aging.

Collins led the multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional Human Genome Project, an international effort to map and sequence the three billion letters in the h
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