Greeting from the Chairman The Mihara Cerebrovascular Disorder Research Promotion Fund, Charitable Trust, was established in 1981 by the will of late Hiroshi Mihara, MD, in an urgent need for establishing and promoting basic and clinical studies of cerebrovascular disorders in Japan The Mihara Award provides research grants to researchers at home and abroad, engaged in their own respective research fields relating to cerebrovascular disorders in an anticipation of further progress in medical sciences and human welfare. The Fund provides grant-in-aid of 10,000,000 yen to one promising scientist each year to salute his/her outstanding achievement, and to encourage further research projects relating to cerebrovascular disorders. Twenty-eight researchers have been awarded since the establishment of the Fund. They are actively committed to cerebrovascular studies in their domestic and overseas institutions. On behalf of the Mihara Award Steering Committee of the Mihara Cerebrovascular Disorder Research Promotion Fund, Charitable Trust Fund, I am honored to report that Professor Hirotoshi Sano, the Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, Fujita Health University, has been selected as the recipient of the Mihara Award for the year of 2009, a grant-in-aid of 10,000,000 yen. Professor Sano's award-winning research is titled "Cerebral Aneurysm Surgery: Establishing and popularizing Newer Safety Aspects." The most eminent representative of his surgical inventions with which he has saved lives of numerous high-risk patients, are the "Tentative Clips" method used in the treatment of ruptured aneurysms and the "Multi Clipping method" for treating patients suffering from complex aneurysms. Professor Sano is actively and internationally engaged in the activities of the Cerebrovascular Disease & Therapy Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) as the chairman, and is the president of 9th International Conference on Cerebrovascular Surgery (ICCVS). His remarkable achievements and commitments were highly rated among the members of the Mihara Award Steering Committee as the outstanding contribution to the promotion of cerebrovascular disorder research. The Mihara Award presentation ceremony, for the year of 2009, was held on February 26, 2010 at "Tokyo John Bull", Asahi Seimei Building, Otemachi, Tokyo. The family of the late Dr. Mihara and the members of the Mihara Award Steering Committee welcomed Professor Sano and other distinguished guests including the delegates from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Japan Neurosurgical Society as well as the Diet members. The award selection is held every year. We wish to receive recommendations for promising researchers in both domestic and overseas institutions to apply for the award for fiscal year 2010. We also welcome applications from those who did not receive the award in the past years. Haruyuki Kanaya Chairman Mihara Award Steering Committee Charitable Trust: Mihara Cerebrovascular Disorder Research Promotion Fund