The result of the Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program scholarship recipients 2013

Today (30th July 2013) at 13:30 hrs. Clin. Prof. Supat Vanichakarn, Secretary General of Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under Royal Patronage; Mr. Manasvi Srisodapol, Director-General of the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Public Affairs. Prince Mahidol Award Foundation.Nations; Prof Vicharn Panich, Chairman of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Steering Committee; Assoc. Prof. Apichat Asavamongkolkul, Chairman of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Working Committee; and Prof. Somphop Limpongsanurak, Chairman of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Selection Committee, together issue a press release on the names of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Scholars for 2013 at the Hall in front of Prince Mahidol Aduldej Room, 4th floor of Siriraj Medical Library, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.

The names of five Scholars of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program (PMA YP) are as follows:

1. Mr. Janewit Wongboonsin
2. Ms. Prowpanga Udompap
3. Mr. Pakawat Chongsathidkiet
4. Mr. Veraprapas Kittipibul
5. Mr. Supavit Chesdachai

Twenty-three applicants from 10 institutes were nominated for Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program in 2013. Only 5 successful applicants meet the criteria of Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program. The Selection Committee selected the scholars and presented to the Board of Trustee which HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is a President. The final decision had been made on 3rd June 2013.

Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program has been established on 20th November 2008 according to the 2nd/2008 consensus of the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation Committee. The program aims to inspire and facilitate Thai youths studied in the health fields to pursue their dedicated life for the benefit of mankind following the footsteps of HRH Prince Mahidol of Songkla.

The steering committee, the working committee, and the selection committee are responsible to select the applicants who meet the criteria of the program, and present their names to the Board of Trustee which HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is a President, for a final decision.

The successful applicants will obtain a scholarship for research study, or professional training, or community development abroad or in the country with full support for 12-month overseas placement. The period of in country or overseas placement of the scholarship recipients will be considered as a part of their three-year working period for the government of Thailand.

Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Scholar 2013

Mr. Janewit Wongboonsin
Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Mr. Janewit Wongboonsin is a sixth year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. He is interested in the field of stem cell application to cure or slow down the progression of chronic kidney disease. Nowadays, the incidence of chronic kidney failure is increasing. Prevalence of chronic kidney disease is found up to 17% of Thai population and there is a trend towards chronic kidney failure. Current treatments are mostly “symptomatic” by providing artificial kidneys as peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis. Although access to treatment is improving by the support from the health care system, the expense is high, long term and not cost-effective. Complete curative treatment which is renal transplantation is still experiencing the lack of donors. Stem cells research, then, is becoming the more hopeful and can be translated to de-novo treatment in the future.

Mr. Janewit has received many honors and awards as follows:

2012
– Vice President of External Affairs, Siriraj Medical Students Union. Observership in Family Medicine, Mayo clinic Rochester, Minnesota, USA. Moderator of a Kid-Vit-Kid-Sci TV show, Thai PBS station. Receive highest score in the 5th year in Internal Medicine and Surgery

2011
– Poster presentation: Opinions regarding end-of-life care from medical students’ perspective: What could be done to make it better?, Association of Medical Education. President of Siriraj International Medical Microbiology and Immunology Competition. Principle investigator: Impact of Flood Crisis 2011 on health of community.

2010
– President of 3rd year Siriraj Medical Student 119th. Coordinator of Yanawa district, Siriraj Fundrasing Committee. Faculty representative in International Medical Physiology Quiz, Be the 5th rank with 99.82 percentile in Thai National Medical License Examination 2008 step 1, Center for Medical Competency Assessment and Accreditation. Receive the highest score in Immunology and physiology.

2009 – Vice President of Internal Affairs, General Assembly-59th March meeting, Bangkok, Thailand, International Federation of Medical Student Association. Participants of Stanford Thai Exchange Program (STEP)

2008 – Thailand representative for Asian Science Camp, The Promotion of Academic Olympiads and Development of Science Education Foundation (POSN)

2007
– 1st Ranking (absolute winner) and highest theoretical score of the competition, International Biology Olympiad (IBO),Saskatoon, Canada

2005
-present: Student scholar of Junior Science Talent Project (JSTP), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA)

2004
– Silver medal, International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO), Jakarta, Indonesia

Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Scholar 2013

Ms. Prowpanga Udompap
Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Ms Prowpanga Udompap is a sixth year medical student of the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. She is interested in “Promotion of awareness in hepatitis B virus infection in Thailand. Southeast Asia is an endemic area of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis B virus infection is still like a silent killer of million people all around the world each year. Once people were infected, they will never know or have any symptoms unless the late stage of disease is coming. In fact, there are plenty of measures to follow-up and control the process of infection in order to not let it progress to be cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. Although Thai patients could access medical services as well as antivirals without any charges, not all patients do aware of this importance. This project would be one of the measures to raise awareness of hepatitis B virus infection in Thai population and ultimately eradicate hepatitis B virus in Thailand someday.

Ms. Udompap has received many honors and awards as follows:

2012
– Representative of Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University for Poster Presentation of research topic ‘Community medicine: Its impact on students’ self-efficacy and attitudes’ in 10th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference (APMEC) at National University of Singapore
– President of Siriraj Medical Knowledge Competition for grade 10-12 students (SIQUIZ 2012)
– Chief of Academic Division of Siriraj International Medical Immunology and Microbiology Competition 2012 (SIMIC 2012)

2010
– Won Third Prize for the Scientific and Public Poster Presentation Competition in the topic of ‘Elderly Rights and Welfare; Make it accessible’ in Asian Medical Students’ Conference 2010 in Jakarta, Indonesia (AMSC 2010-ina)
– highest score in Medical genetics

Some ongoing researches
(1) Relation of watching lecture video recording and learning behavior in Preclinical Medical Students of a medicine school Bangkok,
(2) ‘Community medicine: Its impact on students’ self-efficacy and attitudes’,
(3) ‘The study of prevalence of inappropriate drug use in middle age and elderly in a rural community of Thailand’

Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Scholar 2013

Mr. Pakawat Chongsathidkiet
Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University

Mr. Pakawat Chongsathidkiet is a sixth year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. He is interested in performing a research on the molecular mechanisms behind the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of brain tumor, especially “Glioblastoma”, the most common primary brain tumor originating from glial cells. Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive cancers known. The cancer has worst prognosis among malignancies in the nervous system and the patient has short survival duration. Common symptoms of the disease include seizure, paralysis and progressive memory, personality, or neurological deficit due to temporal and frontal lobe involvement. The quality of life of the patient is nearly totally deteriorated before one deceases.

Pakawat’s ambition is to become a neurosurgeon who overcomes Glioblastoma. He is interested in performing a translational research from understanding the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying the disease to develop novel targeted therapies to cure the cancer.

Mr. Pakawat Chongsathidkiet has received many honors and awards as follows:

2013 – Clinical Clerkship at Beijing University, Beijing, China, received scholarship from the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and Beijing University Health Science Center for one-month clinical clerkship

2012 – Elected as Regional Chairperson of Asian Medical Students’ Association Thailand

2011 – Awarded scholarship from the “Pink-Diamond-Research Program”, Chulalongkorn University, under the supervision of Associate Professor Nattiya Hirankarn, MD, PhD, the special track for distinctive students to do research in parallel with their medical studies and scholarship grants, research facilities and expenses to international conferences

2010 – Research Exchange of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association in the project “Characterization of Gene Expression in Mouse Brain Astrocytes under Physiological and Pathophysiological Conditions” at the Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, University of Bonn, Germany

2009 – Elected as Vice President of Sophomore Medical Students, chief-organizer of the Cadavers’ Cremating Ceremony and selected as Young Thai Science Ambassador

2008 – Selected as Thai Representative in the 19th International Biology Olympiad 2008, Mumbai, India, received Silver Medal

2007 – Selected as Thai Delegate in the 1st Asian Science Camp, Taipei, Taiwan, received Honorary Mention from the creativity poster competition from the poster “Medical-Neurophysics Model of Signal Transduction through Axon”

Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Scholar 2013

Mr. Veraprapas Kittipibul
Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University

Mr. Veraprapas Kittipibul is a sixth year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. He is interested in conducting a community development project on “Comprehensive Heart Failure Disease Management Program in Thailand”. As the traditional care for heart failure patient does not emphasize the patient involvement in self-monitoring and lifestyle modification, a new model called “Heart Failure Disease Management Program” is developed to overcome these flaws by employing the multidisciplinary team to maximize quality of care and encourage patient participation. Although this model is commonly used in developed countries, there is no obvious model for heart failure patients in Thailand. Taking into consideration the reasons mentioned above, the development of “Comprehensive Heart Failure Disease Management Program in Thailand” project is needed in order to improve the patient’s quality of life and reduce the burden of this problem.

Mr. Veraprapas Kittipibul has received many honors and awards as follows:

2012
– President of the Student Union of Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University
– Awarded for the highest score in “Evidence Based Medicine”
2011
– Head of Forth year class, The Student Union of Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University
– Awarded for the highest score in “Internal Medicine” and “Obstetrics and Gynecology”
2010
– Head of Welfare Division, The Student Union of Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University
– Vice Chairman and instructor of “MDCU teaching camp” for high school student in Kalasint province
– Awarded for the highest score in “Psychopathology”
– Scholarship for the “Pink Diamond-Medical Teacher Program”, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University
2009
– Awarded for the highest score in “Anatomy”, “Physiology”, “Embryology and Medical Genetics” and “Basic Neurological Science”

Prince Mahidol Award Youth Program Scholar 2013

Mr. Supavit Chesdachai
Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University

Mr. Supavit Chesdachai is a sixth year medical student at the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. He is interested in conducting a research on “Relationship between vitamin D levels and outcome of tuberculosis therapy”. Tuberculosis has long been a major global health issue that has caused detrimental effects to the public worldwide. Nowadays the success rate of treatment of tuberculosis is not notably excellent as it should be. Therefore, physicians and scientists in leading institutions have looked into this and discovered that vitamin D supplementation does have a role in enhancing the function of immune system including the immunity to tuberculosis infection but yet to define the optimum levels of vitamin D on this purpose. Based on this fact, he is eager to verify the answer to this mysterious question and also anticipates an initiation of vitamin D supplementation to be a major part of tuberculosis treatment regimen in order to maximize the efficacy of therapy. He also has a high hope that the impact of this study would change a new face of medicine and leads us to a better care and overcomes this enormous global challenge.

Mr. Chesdachai has received many honors and awards as follows:

2013 – Honor award of Youth Award Project in Love and Take Care Project under the patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
– Head of 6th year medical students, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University.
2012
– President of Ramathibodi Medical Students Association.
– Representative of the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University participates in the conference as a committee to consider the 1st Thai Medical Student’s Code of Conduct.
2011
– Certificate in obtaining the highest scores and well behaved of the 4th year medical student from Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University.
2010
– Exchanged student on March 2010 at Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
2009
– Certificate of Review Committee Award for poster presentation at “2009 Asian Science Camp” Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. Head of 2nd year medical students, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University.

2007
– Honor award for very good (silver medal) in “The Fourth Thai Biology Olympiad POSN” at Kasetsart University.
– First Prize in “The Biology and Medical Science Competition 2007”, with HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s honorary award, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University.
– Bronze award in Singapore Mathematical Olympiads

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Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under the Royal Patronage