 The recipient of numerous awards, including the 1996 Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, in 2005 the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) bestowed its "Medallion for Scientific Achievement" for only the fifth time in its history.In announcing Carpentier as the recipient, the AATS also noted that he is "one of the foremost medical philanthropists in the world, having established a premier cardiac center in Vietnam a decade ago where over 1,000 open-heart cases are now performed annually.In addition, he has founded cardiac surgery programs in 17 French-speaking countries in Africa."