Sasakawa Foundation ACTIVITIES

Activities

Medicine & Health

This is a key area for the Foundation and one of growing importance for both the UK and Japan. The Foundation supports conferences, workshops, exchanges and the non-laboratory costs of collaborative research in any area affecting public health services and advances in medical knowledge.

In addition to our ordinary awards, we also make grants under the Butterfield Awards Programme. This programme was established in 2001 to commemorate Lord Butterfield of Stechford, a former Trustee, Chairman and Patron of the Foundation, who was a distinguished medical researcher, clinician and academic administrator. In principle these are larger grants than those available under our ordinary awards and applications should be made on the special Butterfield Awards application form.
For detailed information on the Butterfied Awards and an application form, please click here

Examples:

	Horizons in Ageing and Health: New Targets For Therapies
	A GBSF "Flagship Event" - Top Japanese and British medical scientists met in Newcastle's Institute for Ageing & Health to explore leading-edge research into the molecular and genetic processes affecting health in old age. This meeting is likely to lead to a number of collaborative research projects and could have a significant impact on the understanding and treatment of conditions affecting the elderly, such as Alzheimers disease.

	Public Health
	One of the Foundation’s flagship Butterfield Awards for Medicine and Health was a grant of £15,000 to the Regional Public Health Group of the Department of Health in London for a national level joint review of Public Health policy and practice in the UK and Japan. The Foundation helped to identify Japanese specialists in the field who were looking to carry out research in the UK and thanks to the mutual commitment and high-level support, the study should have an impact on thinking in both countries.

	Neuroimaging schizophrenia
	A Butterfield Award assisted Dr Kazunori Matsumoto and Professor McGuire in their joint study to better understand thought disorder in schizophrenia through investigating brain activity associated with speech pauses. They hoped to show that the application of functional neuro-imaging to clinical research and practice in psychiatry can improve understanding of the relationship between brain and behaviour in neuropsychiatric disorders. The Project, possibly the first of its kind, provided new information about the nature of neuro-cognitive deficit in patients with thought disorder.

	Architects for Health- ‘Nature of Healing Environment in UK and Japan
	Evidence shows that the design of the hospital environment contributes to the quality of medical services and patient welfare. Graham Cooper, Chairman of ‘Art and Architecture’ was helped to document health care facilities in Japan and to prepare a touring exhibition shown in several major cities in the UK. A publication is planned

	Council of Heads of Medical Schools and Deans, London
	Deans of Medical Schools from Japan and the UK met to compare their views on basic medical education for the future. As well as raising standards, it is hoped that closer collaboration will encourage more medical students to explore the possibilities of spending part of their training in the other country.

	Dr David Menon, Papworth Hospital NHS Trust, Cambridge with Professor Kazuo Hanaoka, Department of Anaesthesiology, University of Tokyo
	Dr Menon was the recipient of a Butterfield Award for research into the effect of temperature management on inflammatory response in the brain during cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.