Published On November 29th, 2021, Clin. Prof. Supat Vanichakarn, Secretary-General of Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under the Royal Patronage; Mr. Thanee Sangratana, Director-General of the Department of Information and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Prof. Vicharn Panich, Chairman of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Steering Committee; Prof. Apichat Asavamongkolkul, Chairman of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Working Committee; and Prof. Sompop Limpongsanurak, Chairman of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Selection Committee, issued a press release on the result of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program scholarship recipients 2021 at the Chulabhorn conference room, Syamindra Building 2nd floor, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.
The names of five scholarship recipients 2021 of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program are as follows:
Ms. Nicharee Monkongpitukkul, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University
Mr. Nontapat Sukhonpanich, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University
Mr. Pharanyoo Osotthanakorn, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University
Mr. Phurin Areesawangkit, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University
Mr. Yossawat Suwanlikit, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University
Thirteen applicants from six institutes were nominated for Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program in 2021. Only five successful applicants meet the criteria of the Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program. The Selection Committee selected the scholarship recipients and presented to the Board of Trustee which HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is a President. The final decision was made on October 26th, 2021.
Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program has been established on November 20th, 2008. The program aims to inspire and facilitate Thai youth students in the health fields to pursue their dedicated life for the benefit of humankind following the footsteps of HRH Prince Mahidol of Songkla. The steering committee, the working committee, and the selection committee are responsible for selecting the applicants who meet the program’s criteria and presenting their names to the Board of Trustees, which HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is a President, for a final decision.
On behalf of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, we would like to congratulate three outstanding Siriraj’s medical students as follows:
Ms. Nicharee Monkongpitukkul
Ms. Nicharee Monkongpitukkul is a sixth-year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. Her project entitled “The optimal stimulation strategies of retinal prosthesis as a solution to restore vision in untreatable blind patients”. Ms. Monkongpitukkul is interested in vision restoration technology to bring the sight back to the blind for untreatable blind patients, especially from retinal degenerative diseases, i.e., retinitis pigmentosa. The study will focus on developing the device “retinal prosthesis” aiming to restore the function of damaged photoreceptors. The optimized mechanism of electrical retinal stimulation will gain more data to improve the efficacy of retinal prosthesis, helping blind patient maintain their quality of living.
Ms. Nicharee Monkongpitukkul has received honors and awards as the followings:
2020 President of Siriraj Medical Student Union (SMSU): Leading team towards the mission to create space for learning and improve quality of life of medical students in terms of physical needs and emotional safety, being the coordinator between medical students and faculty executive committee and facilitating extracurricular activities and clubs held by medical students.
2018 Vice President of academic affairs of Siriraj International Medical Microbiology Parasitology and Immunology Competition (SIMPIC) 2019 at Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University
2017 President of the second-year medical student, being the coordinator between Siriraj’s student affairs, academic affairs, and medical student union and facilitating the activities held by the second-year medical students; Representative of second-year medical students to attend the IFMSA research exchange program at Department of Virology, University of Helsinki, Finland for one month under the research topic “Occurrence and distribution of zoonotic viruses in European countries”.
2014 Gold medalist from the 10th Thailand Chemistry Olympiad at Faculty of Sciences, Prince of Songkhla University
Mr. Nontapat Sukhonpanich
Mr. Nontapat Sukhonpanich is a sixth-year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. He is interested in “Genetic variation in stroke – a novel approach for precision public health in Thailand”. Stroke accounted for the top-rank contributor to death and disability in Thailand and worldwide. At present, we already know that we would be able to prevent around 90% of stroke if we could eradicate all the risk factors. But in reality, we could not reach that goal yet.
Moreover, predicting the stroke outcome is more difficult in clinical practice, making the rehabilitation outcome unfavorable. The polygenic risk score (PRS) is a risk prediction tool that has been more recognized as a potential tool to predict the risk of diseases, including stroke. However, there are fewer studies on PRS and stroke, and currently none in individual’s Thai population. This genetic information could lead to the improvement in stroke prevention and functional outcome of the patients in the future.
Mr. Nontapat Sukhonpanich has received honors and awards as followings:
2020 Vice President of the academic affair, Siriraj Medical Student Union, which aimed to help medical students solve academic issues, facilitate effective learning, promote medical student engagement in research; Currently conducting “Proportion, Experiences, and Associated Factors of Conducting Medical Research among Medical Students in Thailand: A nationwide multicentre study”.
2019 Executive committee of strategy and planning affair, Siriraj Medical Student Union; Moderator of Design Thinking Workshop, SMSU camp; Vice president of activity,
the 21st Siriraj Medical Camp
2018 “Sukhum Pattarakom Award”, highest overall score in medical microbiology; President of the academic affair, SI127 Student Committee; Invited speaker at Triam Udom Suksa School, Siriraj Road Show; Head of recreation activity, the 20th Siriraj Medical Camp
2017 Head of creative activity, Siriraj International Medical Microbiology,
Parasitology and Immunology Competition (SIMPIC)
2016 Vice-president, SI127 Student Medical Students’ Conference at Seoul, South Korea
Mr. Phurin Areesawangkit
Mr. Phurin Areesawangkit is a sixth-year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. His project is entitled “Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells-derived CAR T cell therapy for a treatment of CD-133 in unresectable cholangiocarcinoma patients”. Mr. Areesawangkit is interested in developing the novel treatment of Cholangiocarcinoma using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived CAR T cells (iPSC-derived CAR T cells) which will be genetically engineered to have specificity against tumor-specific antigens and can function in immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments. Successful development of this technology will play an important role in the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma, which is mostly unresectable and will be a great step towards the application of iPSC-derived CAR T cell against other types of cancers. This will allow cancer patients, both in Thailand and around the world, to reach an effective treatment of cancer at reasonable prices.
Mr. Phurin Areesawangkit has received honors and awards as follows:
2020 President of Mahidol Day Fundraising Campaign 2020 to provide financial support to patients who cannot afford their medical expenses; President of academic division and 5th-year medical student committee; a guest speaker of an online seminar ‘Research Made Easy’ held by Siriraj Medical Student Union (SMSU).
2019 President of Teaching Project for poorly controlled type 2 diabetes patients at Nong Muang Hospital, Lopburi. He was one of the speakers of the ‘InSipired’ talk held by SMSU and was invited as a guest speaker of Siriraj Road Show 2019 at Mahidol Wittayanusorn school.
2018 Representative of Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in an Inter-Medical School Physiology Quiz 2018 at University of Malaya, Malaysia.
2017 One of the writers and the editor of “WALKTHROUGH, simulated seven subjects test” book and was a liaison of an International Chemistry Olympiad 2017 at Mahidol University, Thailand
2016 He passed to the final round of Thailand’s representative selecting process for Asian Science Camp 2017, Singapore
2013 – 2015 Representative of Thailand in an International Biology Olympiad 2016 and received the silver medal. He also received gold medals from Thailand Biology Olympiad 2015 and 2016.
Apart from this, Mr. Phurin has been working on a research project, “Improvement of effector T-cell function activated by self-differentiated dendritic cells presenting NY-ESO-1 Antigen against multiple myeloma cells from naïve T lymphocyte donor” from 2018 until now.
