6 December 2024
MD PhD Satoru Yonekura was awarded the prestigious LEO Foundation Award 2024 in Region Asia-Pacific during the 49th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Satoru Yonekura’s research has contributed to new insights into how gut health influences melanoma and inflammatory skin diseases.
In recognition of his academic achievements and his contribution to understanding the gut-skin axis, Satoru Yonekura, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Dermatology at Kyoto University in Japan, is this year’s winner of the LEO Foundation Award in Region Asia-Pacific.
“It is a pleasure to present the LEO Foundation Award 2024 in Region Asia-Pacific to Doctor Satoru Yonekura, a talented scientist and well-deserving recipient of this year’s award. Doctor Yonekura has successfully combined clinical and basic scientific skills in his outstanding contribution to the field of dermatology,” says Anne-Marie Engel, Chief Scientific Officer at the LEO Foundation, and continues:
“The LEO Foundation Award was established in 2008 as a research prize to recognize and celebrate rising stars of skin research whose work represents an extraordinary contribution to investigative dermatology, and which may hold the potential to pave the way for new and improved treatments for skin diseases. Doctor Yonekura’s scientific work holds exactly that potential.”
Satoru Yonekura received the USD 100,000 award in person during the 49th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology in Nagoya, Japan on 6 December 2024.
Research focus on the gut microbiome network
Satoru Yonekura’s pioneering work lies at the intersection of gut microbiota research and its systemic effects on distant organs, particularly the skin. Among other things, he explores how gut microbiome interactions influence immune responses and disease progression, uncovering mechanisms that shape outcomes in melanoma and inflammatory skin diseases.
About the award
The LEO Foundation Award – worth USD 100,000 – recognizes outstanding young researchers and scientists from around the world whose work represents an extraordinary contribution to skin research and has the potential to pave the way for new and improved treatments for skin diseases.
The award is given three times annually, one in each of the three regions: the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. It is granted in open competition with all award applications being evaluated by an independent and international Global Review Panel. The panel members are appointed annually by their respective dermatology societies in the three regions.