Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managing director, Biocon Ltd., received the ‘Othmer Gold Medal 2014’ at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

The Biocon chief is the third woman to receive the Othmer Gold Medal and the first Indian to make it to this prestigious group. Nineteen people have been conferred with this honor till date, including Arnold O. Beckman, Carl Djerassi, Mary Lowe Good, Harry B. Gray, Jon M. Huntsman, Kazuo Inamori, Robert S. Langer, P. Roy Vagelos, James D. Watson, George Whitesides and Ahmed Zewail.

Established by the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) in 1997, the annual award honours outstanding individuals who have made multifaceted contributions to chemical and scientific heritage through outstanding activity in such areas as innovation, entrepreneurship, research, education, public understanding, legislation or philanthropy.

The CHF lauded Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s pioneering efforts in biotechnology and for scripting a hugely successful entrepreneurial story by drawing on her knowledge of fermentation science to build Biocon, India’s first bio-pharma company.

Carsten Reinhardt, president & chief executive officer, CHF, handed  in 1997, the annual award over the Foundation's top award to Mazumdar-Shaw during CHF’s Chemical Heritage Day celebration that culminated with the presentation of the Othmer Gold Medal.

Accepting the award, Shaw said, "the honour is akin to being invited to join an extraordinary league of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and philanthropists, an emotion that is both proud and humbling at the same time.

“Biocon is contributing to affordable innovation which goes to the core of ensuring a global right to healthcare. In this, we seem to be drawing lessons from Donald Othmer’s practical and low-cost approach to innovation,” she added.