WNAM REPORT: Chinese clinical scientist Wang Yongjun received the William M. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke at the 2025 International Stroke Conference (ISC) in Los Angeles on Wednesday, in recognition of his significant contributions to the investigation and management of stroke clinical research.
The Feinberg Award, founded by the American Stroke Association, is considered the highest award in stroke clinical medicine. This is the first time an Asian scientist has won the award in its 34-year history.
Wang is the president of Beijing Tiantan Hospital and the Chinese Stroke Association. Over the past 30 years, his team has produced 12 key pieces of evidence that have changed clinical guidelines and practices in stroke treatment.
“It is very fortunate that our team has been a major force in providing evidence of intravenous thrombolytic therapy for ischemic stroke,” Wang said.
“Several clinical trials are still ongoing, including thrombolysis with Tenecteplase for minor ischemic strokes, basilar artery occlusion, and thrombolysis for ischemic stroke at very late time windows,” he said.
His team expanded the intravenous thrombolysis time window from 4.5 hours to 24 hours using imaging and artificial intelligence technologies. This means 90 percent of acute ischemic stroke patients have the opportunity to receive thrombolytic therapy, reducing the patient disability rate by 8.8 percent without increasing the risk of intracranial hemorrhage.
They also developed a treatment combining aspirin and clopidogrel, reducing stroke recurrence rates globally from 11 percent to 6 percent. The team has reduced the recurrence of strokes for nearly one million stroke patients in China.
Wang highlighted the importance of teamwork, noting that over 2,400 hospitals in China are part of their clinical research network.
China faces a heavy burden of stroke, and its scientific teams have long conducted groundbreaking research to tackle global challenges in stroke prevention and treatment.
In the past 10 years, medical scientists from Beijing Tiantan Hospital have completed over 50 national clinical studies, 14 of which provided Chinese solutions for international stroke prevention and treatment.
The Feinberg Award is named after the late William M. Feinberg, a prominent stroke clinician and researcher who contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of stroke.
The three-day ISC, attended by about 4,000 professionals, covers the latest advances in stroke prevention, treatment and rehabilitation worldwide.
