What does Colombia require to earn a Nobel Prize in Medicine?

Abstract

Last year, two of the most academically recognized and publicly admired Colombian scientists in the health field passed away: Francisco Lopera and Manuel Elkin Patarroyo. With them, Colombia lost two opportunities for nomination to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. For some, it may seem exaggerated to think that their contributions could have reached such a distinction; however, both fulfilled the three fundamental attributes required by the Nobel Committee of the Karolinska Institute: having discovered physiology or medicine (not merely a technical or cumulative advance); that such a finding transformed scientific understanding or medical practice; and that the results had been replicated and accepted by the international scientific community. (1) In this analysis, we intentionally omit the requirement of being alive at the time of the award announcement.

Latin America has received fourteen Nobel Prizes in the areas of Literature, Peace, Medicine, and Chemistry, two of which correspond to Colombia (Table 1). (1) The Literature category usually recognizes individual creativity, where Latin American culture and idiosyncrasy have borne fruit with indisputable literary contributions. The Nobel Peace Prize, on the other hand, acknowledges political efforts grounded in ideals. Our region has faced situations and challenges that some leaders have addressed with innovative approaches to achieve peace, whose analysis and impact have contributed to that purpose. In contrast, contributing to science and society in the fields of Medicine and Chemistry requires interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, access to frontier technologies, as well as the curiosity and scientific tenacity needed to formulate, support, and test solid hypotheses.