On September 30th, Chair Professor of CenBRAIN Neurotech Center of Excellence, Mohamad Sawan, a Canadian foreign expert from Westlake University, received the Chinese Government Friendship Award. The Chinese Government Friendship Award is the highest honorary award established to recognize foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the modernization of China. A total of 49 foreign experts from 21 countries were awarded the 2022 Chinese Government Friendship Award at the ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Professor Sawan (first from the left in the first row) with Premier Li Keqiang and other experts at the award ceremony.

As an internationally renowned scientist in the field of smart medical devices, Professor Sawan has been focusing on the development of implantable and wearable smart medical devices based on smart microsystems technology. In response to the advent of an aging society, Professor Sawan has established multidisciplinary research based on brain science, integrated circuits, and biomedical engineering at Westlake University. He also devoted himself to developing intelligent closed-loop neuromodulation systems and advanced brain-computer interface chips to diagnose and treat these neurodegenerative diseases, such as epilepsy, addiction, stroke, and vision. Moreover, he led the recently established Center of Excellence to implement accurate and high-throughput COVID-19 automatic detection biosensors.

The future of scientific research is the future of humans. Professor Sawan said in his speech after the award ceremony. "I want to give back to society by improving the lives of people with brain diseases." It has always been his dream to help people with neurodegenerative diseases focusing on scientific research and corresponding experiments. With the great support from the Chinese government, he hopes to progressively achieve potential solutions to brain diseases, and consequently improve the human quality of life in China.