For cardiologist, inventor and researcher Prof Morton Mower, being picked as the 2015 Prince Mahidol Award Laureate in the field of medicine has been a momentous moment for the American who invented the Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) device and co-invented the Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (AICD), a small device that is placed in the chest to help treat irregular heartbeats.
"I am totally amazed and stunned and honoured to be selected from a large group of nominees," remarked Dr Mower, who is no stranger to Thailand.
"Actually the Prince Mahidol Foundation had problems reaching me. We had moved from Baltimore to Denver and so they didn't have our new address or contact information so they contacted one of my former colleagues from Cardiac Pacemakers Minneapolis, who did a study with me in Thailand years ago. He knew my address so he informed me that they were trying to contact me. When he said I was being selected for the Mahidol Award, I knew it was real.
"I knew that this award is the equivalent of the Asian Nobel Prize, so it's been a real privilege for me as a researcher to receive it," he said.
The Prince Mahidol Award is conferred every year in two areas, namely medicine and public health, in order to recognise individuals or institutions that have made exemplary contributions to mankind. Besides Dr Mower who was awarded this year in the field of medicine, the winner in the field of public health is Sir Michael Gideon Marmot who is recognised for his concept of Social Determinants of Health (SDH). The award presentation ceremony took place late last month at the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall.
Dr Mower believes one of the reasons he was picked for the award was because he had done work in Thailand in the early 1990s, when the country was facing Sudden Death Syndrome in young Thai men.
"It was getting to be a real public problem and the military especially were concerned because these young men, with no early signs or warning, were suddenly dying in their sleep," he remarked. "Apparently men in certain villages in the North were going to bed wearing wigs and smearing lipstick because they thought there were dead widows seeking consorts which were causing these untimely deaths.
Prof Morton Mower.
"Back then I was with Cardiac Pacemakers and we had begun studies on the topic before coming over and putting together a number of studies on Sudden Death Syndrome with Thai investigators, which produced substantial results."
Essentially, he calls himself a cardiac electrician, researching the effects of electrical currents on various tissues. He has extended that now to non-cardiac and non-nervous system.
When asked to share the challenges he has faced through the decades, Dr Mower begins by stating that research is not slavery and that you do it because you like it. Researchers have to be open to all types of results because that is the nature of the work.
He believes there are many obstacles in life which really are not bumps in the road as that is the road you have to follow. The American's motto in life reflects his optimistic nature which he calls the "3 rules of Mirowski". Never give in, never give up, and beat the b*stards! (the b*stards being anyone who disagrees with him).
Dr Mower says he wanted to become an inventor because he has always been interested in how things work. Even as a child, he would constantly be tinkering with things. When he went to Johns Hopkins undergraduate school, a world famous geneticist gave him a project to map the location of two specific genes in the fruit fly. Unfortunately these two ended up being lethal in combination, so he spent about a year unsuccessfully trying to get the colonies to grow.
"It's a wonder then that I ever stuck with research. At the University of Maryland Medical School, I worked collecting bacteriologic specimens for a researcher of infectious diseases. The Sinai Hospital of Baltimore was an unusual community hospital. It had a long history of important research and had an animal laboratory. I hung around it and it eventually became known as something you would go to if you wanted something done in research. I was in the right place at the right time when the implantable defibrillator project came along. After a stint in the US army I did private practice patient care and research, just enough of the former to support my family and enable me to do the latter.''
Dr Mower came from humble beginnings. He grew up in a small rural town in Maryland. He had polio as a small child and as a result didn't excel in sports. Education was very important in his family and so he learned to be self-sufficient and to rely on his own instincts and judgement.
His biggest sacrifice was spending long hours at work which resulted in his absence at home. "I short-changed my family."
The best piece of advice he would like to share with up-and-coming researchers is simply to trust in themselves.
"When you do a project, you are the world's expert. You know more than anyone else in the world about the subject. Don't be turned off by other peoples' criticisms," he said.
Mentorship is part and parcel of a person's success and here Dr Mower would like to thank Dr Bentley Glass from Hopkins, at the University of Maryland, where there was Dr Samuel Bessman and also at the Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, where there were Dr Albert and Dr Michel Mirowski.
The Prince Mahidol Award Laureate couldn't be more satisfied with the success he has achieved.
"I've been very lucky and productive in my research so far. I have one last hurrah! The present work on a potential previously unknown new electrical control system for cellular functions has great potential for ameliorating many diseases only poorly treated hitherto."
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn gave the 2015 Prince Mahidol Award to Sir Michael Gideon Marmot.
