English  |  Español  |  中文

FCG International Thought and Humanities 2003: Jean Dousset  Woodyear  

The research Doctor, Jean Dousset received the FCG International Award in Thought and Humanities 2003, awarded today in Valladolid, the jury “valued the different sides of intellectual work, the achievements and personal commitment of Profesor Jean Dausset when choosing his name among many others, with great merits that were nominated for the award. Adding to his scientific work about the HLA system dealing with the genes of specific antigens of human beings, that gave him enormous international prestige, and to the practical dimension of his discoveries, crucial for carrying out organ transplants, in the case of Jean Dausset, a human dimension materialized in numerous articles and speeches that deal with very important subjects like clonation or the deciphering of the human genome. Within this same ethic, Professor Dausset is the founder of Universal Movements of scientific responsibility, a true tutelary guarantee in the creative process of knowledge that have such theoretical  transcendence and application in our current world.

Jean Dousset  Woodyear - Biography

R.I.P, One of the biggest names in medical research. Deceased in 2009

Born on the 19th of October 1916, in Toulouse, got his Doctor in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of Paris in 1945. As an interim Doctor, and later associate in the Hospitals of Paris, he joined the army in Morocco in 1941. He was a haematologist Doctor during the campaign in Tunis (1943) and in Normandy (1945). After the Second World War, he dedicated himself to research, first in the Regional Blood Transfusion Center and later in the National Center. He actively participated with Professor Robert Debre in the creation of the University Hospital Centers (1955-1958). In 1952 he observed a mass leucoaglutination for the first time. He described the first antigen leucotarian (MAC) of the future HLA (Human Leucocyte Antigens) system in 1958. He was successively named Associate Professor (1968) and in 1977 he became the Professor of Experimental Medicine of the Collège de France..

In the scientific area, he has devoted his life to the study of the HLA system, which groups together the genes of the specific antigens of an individual, demonstrating the importance this has in transplants through the skin grafts done to voluntary patients. He published the first studies about the possible association between the HLA tissue groups and the illnesses. He organized, in 1972, the anthropological research that defined the HLA groups in different populations. In 1969, he founded France-Transplant. The Research Unit of the National Health Institute and Medical Research that he directed in the Saint-Louis Hospital from 1968 to 1984, has described numerous antigens of the HLA system and has made numerous contributions to the studies about the answer to the immunity of an individual. Jean Dausset created in 1983 the Study of the Human Polymorphism Center, located in the Collège de France, and contributed to deciphering the human genome map and to identifying the genes related to genetic illnesses. This work was crucial for the development of the Human Genome project.

Finally, he contributed to the study of the HLA molecules, called tolerance 2 molecules, particularly the molecule HLA-G that is in charge of inhibiting the reaction of a mother with her incompatible fetus. The HLA-G plays an essential role in the prevention of rejections.

The Professor Jean Dausset, not only represents a guarantee in the continuation of learning, in the search for the truth, but that this learning has a service sense and is useful to the society.

Professional Activity

Director of the Research of the Immunogenic Unit of Human Transplants of the National Health Institute and Medical Research

Founder and President of France-Transplant

Founder and President of France-Bone Marrow Grafts

Founder and President of Human Polymorphism Center

Founder of MURS or the Universal Movement of scientific responsibility.

Professor of Immunohaematology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris

Professor of Experimental Medicine in the College of France.

Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium

Member of the Academy of Medicine of the Institute of France

Member of the American National Academy of Science

Member of the Royal Academy of the Balearic Islands.

Member of the Scientific Coordination Committee of UNESCO for the Human Genome Project

President of the French Immunology Society

President of the French Haematology Society

President of the Transplant Society

Honours

Nobel Prize of Medicine and Physiology (1980)

Award of the Wolf Foundation

Honoris Causa Professor in 13 universities, amongst others, the University of Brussels,  Genoa, Liege, Lisbon, Rome, Zagreb, Lima, Compultense of Madrid, Buenos Aires, Las Palmas, Quebec, Zaragoza and Calgary.

Great Scientific Award of Chemical and Natural Science

Cognacq-Jay Award of the Academy of Science

Award of the Gairdner Foundation

Award of the Koch Foundation

Honda Award

Jimenez Diaz Foundation

Medawar Award

Official of the Legion of Honor and Commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium