{"id":683,"date":"2016-03-15T16:15:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T23:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/scientists-qi-long-ying-and-austin-smith-win-the-2016-mcewen-award-for-innovation\/"},"modified":"2023-11-26T08:17:06","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T16:17:06","slug":"scientists-qi-long-ying-and-austin-smith-win-the-2016-mcewen-award-for-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/scientists-qi-long-ying-and-austin-smith-win-the-2016-mcewen-award-for-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Qi-Long Ying and Austin Smith win the 2016 McEwen Award for Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Scientists Qi-Long Ying and Austin Smith win the 2016 McEwen Award for Innovation<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n \n March 15, 2016<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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Researchers Qi-Long Ying from USC and Austin Smith from the University of Cambridge have won the 2016 McEwen Award for Innovation, the highest honor bestowed by the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). Supported by the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, the award recognizes groundbreaking stem cell discoveries that open new avenues of exploration toward the understanding or treatment of human disease.
\nYing originally joined Smith\u2019s laboratory as someone who knew next to nothing about stem cells. The third child of a farmer and a factory worker, he grew up in Yongkang, a small city in China\u2019s Zhejiang province, during the Cultural Revolution.
\n\u201cAt that time, as a kid, I was always curious about everything,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the older generation told me when I was small that I was always asking many different questions, always asking, \u2018Why, why, why?\u2019 \u201d
\nDespite his natural curiosity, Ying had had little chance of obtaining a higher education. Chinese universities admitted students based on political and family connections, not academics, throughout most of his childhood. This changed with the death of Chairman Mao in 1976, and the subsequent reinstatement of the \u201cGaokao,\u201d China\u2019s merit-based college entrance exam. Ying earned a top score.
\n\u201cAt that time, the test was very important and changed your life forever,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why many people, when they learned the results, they always cried. My mother [was so happy that she] also cried.\u201d
\nAlthough he originally dreamed of becoming a detective or a civil engineer, charismatic recruiters from the First Military Medical University persuaded him to choose a different path. What he didn\u2019t fully appreciate at the time was that attending one of China\u2019s military medical universities carried an obligation of 25 years of army service.
\nAfter Ying graduated in 1987, the army decided that he would work at a remote missile base near the Chinese border with North Korea \u2014 a three-day train ride from his hometown, his parents and his three sisters. For a salary of $14 per month, he was charged with treating colds, headaches and minor ailments, and triaging more serious patients to a larger hospital elsewhere.<\/p>\n