It is the time of year to honour the recipient of the ‘Journal of Drug Targeting’s’ Life-time Achievement Award for 2019. The Lifetime Achievement Award is an unsolicited award given annually to honour the sustained outstanding scientific achievements of a researcher working in the broad fields of drug delivery and targeting. This year’s winner, as always, was selected by a scientific panel comprising members of the Editorial board and representatives from Taylor and Francis/Informa PLC, the publishers of the ‘Journal of Drug Targeting’.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Professor Patrick Couvreur, from the University of Paris-Sud in France, is the recipient of this year’s ‘Journal of Drug Targeting’s’ Lifetime Achievement Award for his life-long, high impact research into the development of drug delivery systems for use in nanomedicines.
Professor Couvreur is a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France since 2009 and previously held the chair of ‘Innovation Technologique’ (2009–2010) at the prestigious Collège de France. In addition, he has held many important national and international academic positions such as the Director of the UMR CNRS 8612 (a CNRS associated department comprising more than 120 researchers working in the drug delivery/targeting fields) and the Director of the Doctoral School ‘Therapeutic Innovation’ at Paris-Sud University as well as being honoured with the title of ‘Extraordinary Professor’ at the University of Louvain in Belgium. He has also served as a member of the board of governors for ‘The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and the Controlled Release Society, USA.’
Professor Couvreur began his academic life as a pharmacist, graduating in 1972 from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium and later obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, from the same university. He then went on to conduct post-doctoral research ETH Zürich in Switzerland with Professor Paul Speiser – who, interestingly, was also a previous recipient of this Journal’s Life-time Achievement Award. No doubt this postdoctoral experience served as an important platform for Patrick’s own body of research in the fields of drug delivery and targeting that was to follow subsequently. Patrick then returned once more to the Université Catholique de Louvain in 1978 but this time as an Associate Professor before being appointed as a full Professor of Pharmacy at Université Paris-Sud (France) in 1984 where he has remained ever since.
Patrick has mentored numerous graduate students (more than 74) and several post-doctoral fellows, many who have gone into academia or research positions in pharmaceutical industry. He has been a prolific researcher (Google Scholar H-index 120; citations 60,000+ and Thomson Reuters H-index 89; citations 33,000+) and has edited/authored eight books as well as publishing well over 500 scientific articles in the general fields of drug delivery, nanomedicine and drug targeting including in prestigious journals such as ‘Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Communications and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’. In addition, he is an inventor on over 90 patents -reflecting his innovativeness and enthusiasm for translational research- which has resulted in him founding two start-up companies, Bioalliance (now ONXEO) and Medsqual.
Professor Couvreur has been appointed a member of eight academies including Académie des Sciences, Académie Nationale de Médecine in France, as well as the Académie Royale de Médecine in Belgium, the Royal Academy of Pharmacy in Spain, and the National Academy of Medicine (USA). He has already received many prestigious awards for his research during his illustrious career including the Young Investigator Award of the Controlled Release Society, the Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress Award, the prestigious Host Madsen Medal, the European Pharmaceutical Scientist Award given by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Grand Prix de l’Innovation of L’Usine Nouvelle, Prix Galien and the European Inventor Award in 2013 given by the European Patent Office.
The ‘Journal of Drug Targeting’ is therefore very delighted to add another award to his long list by bestowing its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019 for his many sustained and outstanding contributions to the fields of drug delivery and targeting as well as nanotechnology and nanomedicine.
As part of the recognition for this award, I am truly indebted to Professor Elias Fattal, a colleague of Patrick’s at University Paris-Sud, who has compiled an excellent set of articles from eminent scientists with known association with Professor Couvreur. Elias has aimed to give our readers a flavour of the research Patrick has been involved in over the last four or so decades. I refer you to his own editorial and other articles herein, some of which include personal reflections and insights into the research achievements of Professor Couvreur that have led up to this award from the ‘Journal of Drug Targeting’. Indeed, the print copy of this special issue, along with a commemorative plaque will be awarded to Professor Patrick Couvreur as part of the award.
Based on the above brief summary and other articles in this special issue, I am sure you will all agree that Professor Patrick Couvreur is a deserving winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Our congratulations to you Patrick on this special achievement!
A photograph of Professor Patrick Couvreur, recipient of the Journal of Drug Targeting’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019 (courtesy of P. Couvreur).
