Creative Research Medal 2025

Timothy Yang, associate professor in the Franklin College Department of History, explores the intersection of business, medicine, and empire in the making of modern East Asia and Japan. His book, “A Medicated Empire: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Modern Japan” (Cornell University Press, 2021), is a micro-history of how a multi-national drug company, Hoshi Pharmaceuticals, expanded alongside Japan’s imperial ambitions, using state connections to dominate colonial markets. Through extensive archival research, Yang reveals how the company capitalized on imperial policies, marketing medicines in colonies while adhering to domestic narcotic bans, shaping both commercial and medical landscapes across the world. Widely praised for its innovative approach, the book won the Hagley Book Prize for best book in business history and has received glowing reviews in leading academic journals. Yang’s work bridges the history of science, economic history, and colonial studies. As director of UGA’s Center for Asian Studies, he continues to advance interdisciplinary scholarship across Asia and beyond.