The 12th Zijin ScienceTechnology Innovation Award (hereinafter referred to as the "Zijin Award") was announced recently. Professor Liu Zuguo, Director of the Eye Institute of Xiamen UniversityPresident of the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China, was honored with the Special Contribution Award of the Zijin Award for his outstanding contributions to clinicalbasic research in ophthalmology.

Liu Zuguo.

The Zijin ScienceTechnology Innovation Award is organizedevaluated annually by the Fujian Association for ScienceTechnology, with 10 to 15 recipients selected each year. Among them, the Special Contribution Award is conferred on at most one person per year, determined by scholars contributions that year. It is only awarded when there is a particularly outstanding contributor. Otherwise, it remains vacant that year. This mechanism further underscores the value of the Special Contribution Award of the Zijin Award, encouraging scientifictechnological workers in the new era to continue their effortsachieve further accomplishments in scientifictechnological innovation.

Professor Liu Zuguo is a distinguished professor of the Chang Jiang Scholars Program by the Ministry of Education of China, the chief scientist of the National Key ResearchDevelopment Program of China, an academician of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, an academician of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, a member of the board of directors of the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS),the former president of the Asia Dry Eye Society. He has long been engaged in the clinicalbasic research of ocular surfacecorneal diseases, serving as a pioneerleader in the fields of ocular surface diseasesdry eye in China. He has participated in the drafting of several international dry eye guidelines, led the formulation of over ten domestic consensus statementsthe country’s only clinical guideline on dry eye. He has received the second prize of the National ScienceTechnology Progress Award three timesthe first prize of provincialministerial sciencetechnology progress awards nine times. In addition, he has successively won a series of important domesticinternational academic awards such as the China Youth Science Award, the Chinese Ophthalmology Outstanding Achievement Award, the APAO Achievement Award, the Wu Jieping Medical Innovation Award, the WuXi AppTec Medicinal Chemistry Award, the Wu Jieping – Paul Janssen MedicalPharmaceutical Award. As an ophthalmologist who was the first in China to obtain a chair position in an international academic organization, he wields significant influence in the international fields of ocular surfacedry eye research.

Winning the Special Contribution Award of the 12th Zijin ScienceTechnology Innovation Award fully affirms Professor Liu Zuguos outstanding contributions to ocular surfacecorneal disease research, particularly his pivotal role in scientific research such as dry eye, corneal neovascularization, corneal stem cellstissue engineering, ophthalmic medical instrumentssmart healthcare technologies.