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Professor Maurizio Botta, Guest of Honour at the Evening for Science and Society

Every year the prestigious Huibregtsen Award for the best academic scientist of the Netherlands is bestowed during an impressive gala diner in the medieval Hall of the Knights; the official throne hall of the governmental see of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The event promotes the interaction between science and society by inviting a selection of some of the most important academic scientist of the Netherlands and mixing them up with political decision makers, captains of industry and representatives of important institutions.

The Huibregtsen Award bears the name of our very own Mickey Huibregtsen who was one of the founders, and to this day still is the honorary president of the annual Evening for Science and Society 

This year our dear friend and respected college Professor Dr. Maurizio Botta was personally welcomed by the Secretary of State for Education as the special guest of the evening. Prof. Botta is a worldwide opinion leader in pharmaceutical chemistry and was the co author of over five hundred scientific publications in peer reviewed journals. Prof. Botta is also the principal inventor of the DDX3 Helicase inhibitor platform under development by our company.

It was an honour to have Prof. Botta at our table together with some of the key people involved in the First Health group.

On the group photo above we see Prof. Maurizio Botta next to Mickey Huibregtsen (L), the president of the First Health United Foundation as well as the First Health Capital investment fund. On the far left and right we see Alessia Tarditi, the scientific director-, and Jan Willem Bakker, the general manager of First Health Pharmaceuticals.

The Huibregtsen Award of 2016 went to Prof. Dr. Ronald Hanson for his groundbreaking research in quantum physics, where he investigated the capabilities of particles to communicate at distance. On behalf of Mickey Huibregtsen himself and Professor Maurizio Botta we congratulate Professor Hanson with his admirable achievements.