2022 Recognitions
December 2022
Deborah Bolding, PhD
Bolding, an occupational therapist, received the Award of Excellence from the Occupational Therapy Association of California during the organization’s annual conference in October. Read more here
Pascal Geldsetzer, MD, PhD
The assistant professor of primary care and population health received a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases New Innovator Award. The $1.5 million award is for the development and testing of a study design for research into sepsis. Read more here
Louis Halamek, MD
Halamek, professor of pediatrics and founding director of the Center for Advanced Pediatric and Perinatal Education at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, received the Avroy Fanaroff Neonatal Education Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The award recognizes Halamek for his work and commitment to educating practitioners in the delivery of care to critically ill newborns. Read more here
Robert Harrington, MD
Harrington, chair of the Department of Medicine and the Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor in Medicine, has received the 2022 CLCD Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The award recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the affairs of a scientific council and who have made substantial professional contributions to the field represented by the council. Read more here
Brian Hie, PhD
A postdoctoral scholar in biochemistry, Hie has been named a 2022 STAT Wunderkind for the use of machine learning techniques derived from natural language processing to understand protein evolution. Every year, STAT honors the brightest young minds in health and science — doctors and researchers launching their careers and blazing new trails as they attempt to answer some of the biggest questions in science and medicine. Read more here
Caleb Lareau, PhD
Lareau, a Stanford science fellow and postdoctoral scholar in pathology, has been named a 2022 STAT Wunderkind. He is being recognized for using single-cell genomics and other computational technologies to create a cell-by-cell map of normal and cancerous tissue with the goal of identifying new antigens. Every year, STAT honors the brightest young minds in health and science — doctors and researchers launching their careers and blazing new trails as they attempt to answer some of the biggest questions in science and medicine. Read more here
Carolyn Rodriguez, MD, PhD
Rodriguez, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and associate dean of academic affairs, received the 2022 Dolores Shockley Diversity & Inclusion Advancement award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. The award is in recognition of Rodriguez’s dedication to improving opportunities for underrepresented groups in STEM-related disciplines. Read more here
Sandya Subramanian, PhD
The postdoctoral scholar in bioengineering has been named a 2022 L’Oreal USA For Women in Science fellow. She received a $60,000 grant to employ wearable technology in studying the interactions between the brain, the gut and the nervous system in migraine patients. Read more here
Kristel Tjandra, PhD
The postdoctoral scholar in emergency medicine received the 2022 Excellence in Science Communication Award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in partnership with Schmidt Futures. Tjandra has written for Peaceful Science, Asia Research News and Drug Discovery News, among other publications. Read more here
Jennifer Woo, MD
Woo, a fellow in cardiovascular medicine, is the inaugural recipient of the Advanced ACHD Fellows Grant. She received $5,000 in financial assistance from the Heartfelt Dreams Foundation to help her pursue her training in treating congenital heart defect patients. Read more here
Lisa Chamberlain, MD
The professor of pediatrics has received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation for a research project that uses pediatricians’ offices to promote math education for underrepresented children in rural communities. The grant runs through 2025. Read more here
Iris Gibbs, MD
Gibbs, a professor of radiation oncology, was elected as the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion council chair. In this inaugural role, Gibbs will work with other society leaders to improve radiation oncology workforce diversity, access and equity in patient care, and other goals. Read more here
Natalia Gomez-Ospina, PhD
Gomez-Ospina, an assistant professor of pediatrics, has received a Science Diversity Leadership Award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for her research into using bone marrow–derived cells to treat metabolic diseases. Read more here
Yvonne Maldonado, MD
Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics and of epidemiology and population health as well as the Taube Professor in Global Health and Infectious Diseases, was selected by the American Pediatric Society as the John Howland Award Recipient for 2023. The John Howland Award is the highest honor given by the society. Read more here
Fatima Rodriguez, MD
The assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine is one of 17 early-career physician scientists to receive a grant for clinical research proposals from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of the 2022 Clinical Scientists Development Awards. Rodriguez will receive a grant of $495,000 over three years for her research into incidental calcium to understand risk estimate. Read more here
Irving Weissman, MD
Weissman, a professor of pathology and of developmental biology as well as the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor in Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research, was honored with the 2022 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology. Weissman has made “monumental contributions to hematology over the past 56 years,” and is best known for his work on hematopoiesis, leukemia and hematopoietic stem cells, according to the American Society of Hematology. Read more here
Euan Ashley, MBChB, DPhil, and Victoria Parikh, MD
Ashley, the Roger and Joelle Burnell Professor in Genomics and Precision Health, and Parikh, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine, will be working with researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, University of Toronto, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital to “map” every variation in more than 25 assorted disease genes that can cause cardiac diseases predisposing to heart failure and sudden death. The group recently received a four-year, $8.2 million grant from the National Health Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Read more here
Mildred Cho, PhD
Cho, a professor of pediatrics and of medicine, received the Greenwall Foundation’s inaugural Bernard Lo, MD Award in Bioethics. The award recognizes Cho, associate director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, “for excellence in bioethics mentorship and for going above and beyond to support and guide rising bioethics professionals.” Read more here
John Ioannidis, MD, DSc
Ioannidis, professor of medicine and of epidemiology and population health, has been awarded the inaugural Harwood Prize for Intellectual Courage from the American Institute for Economic Research for his “pioneering work on COVID-19.” The award is presenting to “an intellectual leader in any field of study or profession who exercises unusual courage in standing up for what is true under difficult circumstances — risking even reputational and professional stability — in order to make a difference for the good of society.” Read more here
Praveen Kalra, MD
Kalra, clinical assistant professor in anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine, and his team were presented with the first Sustainability Ambassador Award by Stanford Health Care’s Sustainability Program Office. This group significantly reduced the use of Desflurane, an anesthetic gas with greenhouse gas emissions that are 2,500 times more than carbon dioxide. Read more here
Ali Lashkaripour, PhD, and Xiaowei Yan, PhD
Lashkaripour, a postdoctoral scholar in bioengineering, and Yan, a postdoctoral scholar in dermatology, were named Damon Runyon Fellows by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. They will receive $260,000 apiece to continue their work in cancer research and investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies and prevention. Read more here
Emma Lundberg, PhD
Lundberg, associate professor of bioengineering and of pathology, is part of a team expected to receive nearly $20 million over the next four years to launch Cell Maps for AI as part of the National Institutes of Health’s Bridge to Artificial Intelligence program. Read more here
Robbie Majzner, MD
Majzner, assistant professor of pediatric hematology and oncology, is part of a team that has been awarded £500,000 from Solving Kids’ Cancer UK and five other charities to support the pair’s pre-clinical research into combination antibody therapies for treating chemotherapy-resistant neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. Read more here
Rajat Rohatgi, MD, PhD
Rohatgi, associate professor of biochemistry and of medicine, was named a member of the Pew Charitable Trusts 2022 class of Innovation Fund investigators. He will be part of a team investigating the regulation of the WNT signaling pathway and its component proteins in colorectal cancer. Read more here
Sara Singer, PhD, and Michael Snyder, PhD
Singer, professor of primary care and population health, and Snyder, the Stanford W. Ascherman Professor of Genetics, are part of a team led by the University of Washington that received $7.8 million to help kick off the NIH Common Fund’s Bridge to Artificial Intelligence program. Read more here
Annelise Barron, PhD
The associate professor of bioengineering has been awarded an Oskar Fischer Bronze prize, securing $300,000 to expand research into the understanding of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Read more
Jonathan Berek, MD
Berek, the Laurie Kraus Lacob Professor, the founding director of the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center and a senior advisor at the Stanford Cancer Institute, helped lead an effort that established a $1.2 million endowed fellowship in gynecologic oncology. The fellowship, which will ensure the training of the next generation of physician-scientists in gynecologic cancers, will be named in honor of Berek upon his retirement from Stanford. Read more
Robert Malenka, MD, PhD
Malenka, the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor in Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences and the deputy director of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, was awarded the Peter Seeburg Integrative Neuroscience Prize. He will receive $100,000 for his work in identifying the mechanically distinct forms of synaptic plasticity present in the human brain. Read more
Mark Davis, PhD
A professor of microbiology and immunology, and director of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection, Davis has been elected as the for 2022-2023 president of the American Association of Immunologists, the oldest immunology society in the US, founded in 1913. Davis’ term will begin July 1. Read more
Laurens van de Wiel, PhD
A postdoctoral scholar in bioinformatics, van de Wiel has been awarded $160,000 as part of the Rubicon grant from the Dutch Research Council. The funding will give van de Wiel and his department, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, the opportunity to gain international experience researching how DNA changes can lead to disease. Read more
Ivan Soltesz, PhD
A professor of neurosurgery and neurosciences, Soltesz secured a $1 million allotment of funding for Stanford as a result of his contributions to the Expeditions in Computing award-winning program “Expeditions: Mind in Vitro — Computing with Living Neurons.” The award, from the U.S. National Science Foundation, will fund the development of science and technology to fabricate, model, program, scale and embody biological processors. Read more
Lloyd Minor, MD
Minor, professor of otolaryngology – head and neck surgery and dean of Stanford School of Medicine, has received the 2022 Award of Merit from the American Otological Society. The award recognizes his advances in the understanding of the neurophysiology of the vestibular system and for the discovery of superior canal dehiscence syndrome. Read more
John Ioannidis, MD
Ioannidis, a physician and professor of epidemiology and population health, has been announced as the president-elect for the American Association of American Physicians, vice president for 2022-2023 and president for 2023-2024. The association is an elected society of physician-scientists who make pioneering and enduring contributions to improve health. Read more
Serena Sanulli, PhD
An assistant professor of genetics, Sanulli is a member of the Searle Scholars new class and was granted $300,000 to fund her research into chromatin atomic-scale dynamics. The Searle Scholars Program supports high-risk, high-reward research in a broad range of scientific disciplines. Read more
Timothy McAdams, MD
McAdams, clinical professor of orthopedic surgery and head physician for the San Francisco 49er football team, was elected president of the NFL Physicians Society. He has worked with the sports team since 2007, has served as vice president of the society and has authored over 40 peer reviewed journal articles in orthopedic surgery. Read more
Hannah Valantine, MD
Valantine, professor of cardiovascular medicine and champion of an inclusive workforce, has received the Distinguished Award for Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion from the American College of Cardiology. Valantine was also a recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation for her research advancing the care of heart transplant patients. Read more
Allison Kurian, MD, MSc
Kurian, a professor of oncology, is one of nine researchers to have been recently added to the advisory group of the breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen. As a Komen scholar, she joins nearly 50 accomplished leaders in breast cancer research and advocacy, representing more than 20 major health institutions across the United States. Read more
Vivian Lou and Adary (Ada) Zhang
Medical students Lou and Zhang are the first fellows of a program run by the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education and the Chinese University Hong Kong. They will earn a master’s degree in public health from the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care in Hong Kong. Read more
Christina Curtis, PhD
Curtis, an associate professor of oncology and of genetics, received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). This honor is in recognition of her paradigm-shifting research on tumor evolution, including the “big bang” model, which explains how treatment-naïve cancers grow in the absence of therapeutic influence. Curtis’s world-renowned work has also earned her an appointment to the AACR Board of Directors for the 2022–2025 term.
Helen Blau, PhD
Blau, director of the Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and professor of microbiology and immunology, was elected to the board of directors of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. She has been a member of the society since its inception in 2002 and has served on many of its committees.
Fernando Mendoza, MD
Mendoza, associate dean of minority advising and programs and professor of pediatrics, was named the 2022 recipient of the Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. Leadership Award by the Federation of Pediatric Organizations. Mendoza advocates for underserved pediatric populations and researches immigrant health and policy.
Anna Gloyn, DPhil
Gloyn, a professor of pediatrics, is the recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award, which recognizes research in diabetes that demonstrates independence of thought and originality. She studies the genetic basis of diabetes and pancreatic islet cell dysfunction to advance treatment options for patients.
Cristina Alvira, MD
Alvira, an associate professor of pediatrics, has been named the Society for Pediatric Research’s president-elect for the 2022-2023 term. She will be the president of SPR from June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2024. Alvira has been an active member of SPR since 2011.
Abby King, PhD
King, professor of epidemiology and population health, is the 2022 Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize recipient. She was selected for her work to provide community members with accessible tools and resources to improve public health in diverse locales.
Debadrita Bhattacharya, PhD, Felix Boos, PhD,
and Catherine Triandafillou, PhD
Bhattacharya, Boos and Triandafillou were awarded this year’s Damon Runyon Fellowship Award. The three recipients will take part of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s newest cohort of postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research. They will receive $231,000 in funding.
Margaret Fuller, PhD
Fuller, the Reed-Hodgson Professor in Human Biology and professor of developmental biology and of genetics, won the 2022 Genetics Society of America Medal for her pioneering work on cellular mechanisms that underlie Drosophila spermatogenesis.
Justin Annes, MD, PhD
Annes, a physician specializing the treatment of hereditary endocrine disorders and an associate professor of endocrinology, has earned Stanford an award from the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation. The award grant is for $300,000 and comes as a result of Annes’ pioneering platform technology applicable to numerous chemotherapeutics.
Ravi Majeti, MD, PhD
Majeti, professor of medicine, chief of the division of hematology, and member of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, received a Seeking Transformational Research VEnture (STRIVE) grant for $250,000. The award, from the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research and RUNX1 Research Program, is for Majeti and his team’s experimental methods in relation to RUNX1-FPD.
Mintu Turakhia, MD
Turakhia, a professor of cardiovascular medicine and the director of the Stanford Center for Digital Health, was named a Luminary Top 50 in Digital Health by RockHealth.org. The Top 50 are selected for their dedication to addressing underserved populations, improving health outcomes and advancing digital health innovations.
Caron Burch, MSN
Burch, manager of the pediatric advanced cardiac therapies program, was elected to the board of directors of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.
Mildred Cho, PhD
Cho, a professor of pediatrics, associate director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and director of the Center for Integration of Research on Genetics and Ethics, was named a Hastings Center fellow.
Kara Davis, DO
Davis, an assistant professor of pediatric hematology and oncology, received an Accelerating Scientific Platforms and Innovative Research (ASPIRE) award from the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. The $750,000 grant will support research into predicting relapse in pediatric acute leukemia.
Jamie McDonald, MD
McDonald, a postdoctoral scholar in clinical multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology, received a Sumaira Foundation 2021 SPARK grant. The $25,000 award will help her develop a database of patients with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody disease.
Philip Sunshine, MD
The professor of pediatrics, emeritus, received the Albion Walter Hewlett Award from the Stanford Department of Medicine. Sunshine, a neonatologist, was instrumental in developing the neonatal intensive care nursery at Stanford.
Jonathan Berek, MD
Berek, the Laurie Kraus Lacob Professor and a professor of gynecologic oncology, has been appointed chair of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Committee on Women’s Cancer.
Melissa Bondy, PhD
Bondy, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, was elected chair of the American College of Epidemiology. She has also been appointed to the steering committee of the American Association for Cancer Research’s Cancer Prevention Working Group.
Heike Daldrup-Link, MD
The professor of radiology received a Cellular Senescence Network Award from the National Institutes of Health. The $2.9 million award will help her develop new tools for arthritis imaging.
Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD
Deisseroth, the D.H. Chen Professor and a professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Erasmus University Rotterdam for his discovery of optogenetics, a technique that makes it possible to use light to activate specific brain cells.
Lou Halamek, MD
The professor of neonatal and development medicine received the inaugural Lou Halamek Excellence in Pediatric Simulation Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is the director of the Center for Advanced Pediatric and Perinatal Education, which focuses on simulation-based training and research.
Clair Kuriakose, PA-C
Kuriakose, executive director of advanced practice and a clinical assistant professor of primary care and population health, was named a Top 25 Emerging Leader by Modern Healthcare. She was recognized for being a key figure in highlighting the value of advanced practice providers and leading an advanced practice workforce strategy focusing on professional fulfillment and wellness.
Lingyin Li, PhD
The assistant professor of biochemistry received the 2022 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry for her contributions to discovering the molecular basis for innate immune activation through the STING pathway.
Ravi Majeti, MD, PhD
Chief of hematology and the RZ Cao Professor, Majeti received a Seeking Transformational Research Venture grant from the RUNX1 Research Program and the Mark Foundation. The $250,000 award will help him better understand how blood cancers develop in those born with the RUNX1 genetic mutation.
Sergiu Pasca, MD
Pasca, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program, received the Theodore Reich Young Investigator Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics. Pasca pioneered a way to integrate 3D brain region-specific organoids and study neural circuit formation in preparations known as assembloids.
Capucine van Rechem, PhD
The assistant professor of pathology received an Emerging Scientist Award from the Children’s Cancer Research Fund. The $100,000 prize is for research into epigenetic factors in cancer in young children.
Joe Woo, MD
Woo, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery and the Norman E. Shumway Professor, won the 2021 Clinical Research Prize from the American Heart Association. He was recognized for his work in complex valve repair, including the development of minimally invasive techniques.
Christina Curtis, PhD
Curtis, a professor of oncology and of genetics as well as the director of breast cancer translational research, was named a Komen scholar by the Susan G. Komen foundation. Her work in systems biology has defined new biomarkers of aggressive breast cancer and has led to new insights in tumor progression.
Gozde Durmus, PhD
The assistant professor of radiology was named a Moore Inventor Fellow by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. She will receive $825,000 to investigate drug-resistant bacteria with the goal of rapidly identifying antibiotic resistance and accelerating effective treatment.
Jeffrey Goldberg, MD, PhD
Goldberg, the Blumenkranz Smead Professor and a professor of ophthalmology, received — along with Robert Avery, DO, at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania — a $5.4 million grant from the Gilbert Family Foundation. The goal is to understand how certain optic pathway gliomas lead to vision loss.
Sergiu Pasca, MD
An associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences as well as the Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program, Pasca received the 2022 IBRO-Dargut and Milena Kemali International Prize for Research in basic and clinical sciences. The award, which includes a grant of 25,000 euros, is in recognition of stem cell technology to create human brain organoids and assembloids, which allow researchers to study the cellular mechanisms of human brain development and disease.
Makeda Robinson, MD, PhD
The postdoctoral scholar in infectious diseases won the Robert Wood Johnson Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development award. She will receive $420,000 for her investigation into the immuno-pathogenesis of severe dengue infections with the goal of identifying signatures that can predict disease progression.
John Boothroyd, PhD
Boothroyd, the Burt and Marion Avery Professor in Immunology, won the Alice and C. C. Wang Award in Molecular Parasitology from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology along with an unrestricted research allowance of $35,000. Boothroyd studies the pathogenesis of parasitic infections, particularly Toxoplasma gondii.
Manisha Desai, PhD
The professor of medicine and of biomedical data science won a Sanofi iDEA award. The $250,000 grant supports the development of new ways to generalize randomized clinical trial findings to target populations of most interest to clinicians, particularly when those target populations are reflected by a complex real-world data set.
Jessica Grembi, PhD
A postdoctoral research fellow in infectious diseases, Grembi won a Rosenkranz Prize from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Stanford Health Policy. She will use the $100,000 award to study the interplay of the gut microbiome with the immune system in undernourished children, with the goal of improving child health and growth in low-income countries.
John Mark Gubatan, MD
The instructor in gastroenterology and hepatology was named a Doris Duke physician scientist fellow. The $220,000 grant will fund his research into vitamin D regulation of gut-specific B cells and gut bacteria in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
Adrienne Long, MD, PhD
A postdoctoral scholar in pediatric hematology and oncology, Long was named a Doris Duke physician scientist fellow. The $220,000 grant will fund her research into how thymic selection, designed to prevent auto-immunity, may also inhibit antitumor immunity in children.
Robbie Majzner, MD
The assistant professor of pediatrics received a Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award. The $495,000 grant will partially fund a clinical trial of children and young adults with neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma, evaluating their mechanisms of response and resistance to anti-GD2 and anti-CD47 antibodies.
William Maloney, MD
Maloney, the Boswell Chair of Orthopaedics, was named vice president of the Knee Society, an organization of knee replacement surgeons.
Elsie Ross, MD
An assistant professor of vascular surgery, Ross received a Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award. The $495,000 grant will help her develop artificial intelligence to predict outcomes after vascular surgery, giving clinicians a tool for prescribing the best procedure for each patient.
Heather Wakelee, MD
Wakelee, division chief of medical oncology and deputy director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, won the 2021 Bonnie J. Addario Lectureship Award from the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer. For her decades of research into the etiology, detection and treatment of lung cancer, she was recognized by having her photo posted in New York’s Times Square for a day.
Seema Yasmin, MD
Yasmin, director of research and education at the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and a clinical assistant professor of primary care and population health, has been appointed to a new committee convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Committee members analyze evidence-based methods for addressing inaccurate and misleading information about biological threats to refute scientific misinformation.
Michael-Anne Browne, MD
The clinical associate professor of pediatrics and associate chief medical officer at Stanford Children’s Health has been appointed to the board of the Association of Physician Leadership in Care Management.
Chris Garcia, PhD
Garcia, a professor of structural biology and the Younger Family Professor, won the 2021 Biolegend William E. Paul Award for Excellence in Cytokine Research. The honor, which comes with a $2,500 prize, is for leading biomedical researchers who have made important contributions to the field.
Serena Hu, MD
Hu, a professor of orthopaedic surgery, is the first female president of the American Orthopaedic Association. She will also be the first female president of the Scoliosis Research Society, beginning September 2022.
Ivana Maric, PhD
Maric, a senior research scientist in pediatrics, won a Rosenkranz Prize from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Stanford Health Policy. The accompanying $100,000 grant will fund her research in using machine learning to analyze metabolites in the blood of pregnant women in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Bangladesh. Her goal is to develop a simple blood test to predict preeclampsia.
Sergiu Pasca, MD
The associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program, Pasca received the 2021 Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Patient-oriented Clinical Research from the American Philosophical Society, which granted him $50,000. Pasca also received the Joseph Altman Award in Developmental Neuroscience from the Japan Neuroscience Society, which includes $10,000. Pasca was recognized for pioneering human stem-cell-based models of brain development and for insights into the molecular mechanisms leading to disease.
Sergey Stavisky, PhD
Stavisky, a postdoctoral research fellow in neurosurgery, won the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation, which includes a $50,000 award. He develops brain-computer interfaces to help patients regain speech and movement.
Joyce Teng, MD, PhD
The professor of dermatology won a CureAccelerator Live! for Rare Diseases Award from Cures Within Reach. The $50,000 grant will fund her research on targeted therapy for vascular malformation.
Zach West
West, a U.S. Army veteran who is pursuing a master of science in physician assistant studies, was named a Tillman Scholar, which includes an award of $16,000. The Tillman Foundation recognizes service members and veterans who are dedicated to service, scholarship and humble leadership.
Gita Abhiraman
The MD-PhD student was named a 2021 fellow by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, which provides up to $250,000 funding for five years of graduate research. Abhiraman investigates the molecular signals that drive the human immune response to disease. She hopes to help design new therapies for cancer and infectious diseases.
Caitlin Bell, MD
A fellow in cardiovascular medicine, Bell received a $460,000 Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Scientist Training Award. The grant is for physician-scientists who have novel approaches to fighting cancer. Bell is researching vascular smooth muscle cells and how they interface with and influence cancer.
Shaul Druckmann, PhD
Druckmann, an assistant professor of neurobiology and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, received a McKnight Scholar Award of $225,000. He researches what happens in the brain between stimulus and response, focusing on situations when the response is delayed and short-term memory is involved.
Elizabeth Egan, MD, PhD
The assistant professor of pediatrics was named a 2021 Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The $500,000 award will aid her research, which concerns interactions between the malaria parasite and human bone marrow.
David Gaba, MD
A professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine, Gaba received the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Award for Individual Achievement from the Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum. The award honors his lifetime achievements in education, research, clinical care and institutional leadership. His contributions include developing manikin-based simulation, adapting aviation crew resource management to health care and developing cognitive aids for use in life-threatening situations.
Dennis Lund, MD
Lund, the Elizabeth Wood Dunlevie Professor, a professor of pediatric surgery and chief medical officer of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, was appointed to the board of the W.H. Hendren Foundation for Pediatric Surgery and Urology.
Crystal Mackall, MD
Mackall, the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor and professor of pediatrics and of medicine, was recognized with the Pediatric Oncology Award and Lecture from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for her leadership and her career achievements, notably her research into pediatric immuno-oncology.
Angela Lumba-Brown, MD
A clinical associate professor of emergency medicine, Lumba-Brown was appointed to the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. She is the co-director of the Stanford Brain Performance Center, and her research focuses on the care of patients with traumatic brain injury.
Everett Moding, MD, PhD
The assistant professor of radiation oncology won a young investigator award from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The $150,000 grant will help fund his research into sarcoma evolution during tumor development and radiation therapy.
Mira Moufarrej
Moufarrej, a graduate student in bioengineering, received a Lemelson-MIT Student Prize and $15,000. She won the prize, awarded to student inventors, for developing blood tests that more accurately predict a pregnant woman’s due date, her risk of delivering early and her risk of developing preeclampsia.
Noah Rosenberg, PhD, and Donna Zulman, MD
Rosenberg, a professor of biology, and Zulman, an assistant professor of primary care and population health, won the 2021 James V. Burgess Methods Article-of-the-Year from the journal Health Services Research for “Measures of care fragmentation: Mathematical insights from population genetics.”
Tait Shanafelt, MD, and Mickey Trockel, MD
Shanafelt, a professor of hematology and the Jeanie and Stew Ritchie Professor, and Trockel, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, won a John A. Benson Jr., MD Professionalism Article Prize from the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. They won in the commentary category for their article “Understanding and Addressing Sources of Anxiety Among Health Care Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which ran in 2020 in JAMA Network.
Donna Zulman, MD
The assistant professor of primary care and population health won a John A. Benson, MD, Professionalism Article Prize from the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. The winning article, “Practices to Foster Physician Presence and Connection With Patients in the Clinical Encounter,” was published in 2020 in JAMA.
Christopher Chen, MD
An assistant professor of oncology, Chen received the Andrea Lynn Scott Memorial Research Fellowship from the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. The $50,000 award will go toward research into the clonal origins of metastatic bile duct cancer.
Mark Davis, PhD
Davis, a professor of microbiology and immunology, won a Szent-Györgyi Prize from the National Foundation for Cancer Research. The $30,000 award, shared with Tak Mak, PhD, at the University of Toronto, is for discoveries about the genetic basis of T cell recognition. Those discoveries have led to treatments for blood cancers and other diseases.
Leah Guthrie, PhD
A postdoctoral scholar in microbiology and immunology, Guthrie was named a Hanna Gray fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The $1.4 million award will allow Guthrie to study hydroxycinnamic acids, which are common in food but accumulate at high levels in people with failing kidneys.
Aida Habtezion, MD
The associate professor of gastroenterology and hepatology received an award from the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group and was named a 2020 Allen Distinguished Investigator. She and her colleagues at the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of British Columbia will use the $1.5 million grant to determine how host immune responses, metabolism, microbiota and intestinal environment lead to variable presentations and outcomes of inflammatory bowel disease.
Paul Khavari, MD, PhD
The Carl J. Herzog Professor in Dermatology received the Stephen Rothman Memorial Award from the Society for Investigative Dermatology. The award is given to dermatologists who have made outstanding contributions to the field in research as well as teaching.
Thomas Koehnke, MD
Koehnke, a postdoctoral scholar, received an ASH Research Restart Award from the American Society of Hematology. The $50,000 grant is for his work on ASXL1 mutations, frequently found in patients with myeloid leukemia and other pre-malignant conditions such as clonal hematopoiesis.
Grace Lee, MD
The professor of pediatrics was named a 2021 Asia Game Changer West Honoree by the Asia Society for her work as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and as chair of the CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical Subgroup.
Yvonne Maldonado, MD
Maldonado, the Taube Professor in Global Health and Infectious Diseases and a professor of pediatrics and of epidemiology and population health, received the National Medical Foundation’s Champions of Health Award and the Distinguished Alumni Award. The foundation provides scholarships to students who are underrepresented in the medical field. The award is for making a lasting impact on health care and diversity.
Daniel Mason, MD
An assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Mason received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his fiction writing. The author of four fiction books, he is currently working on a novel that examines the influence of history, both human and ecological, on characters who are living in a period of environmental change.
Tirin Moore, PhD
Moore received the 2021 Pradel Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences. The prize, which comes with a $50,000 research grant, recognizes mid-career neuroscientists whose work is making major contributions to the understanding of the nervous system. Moore’s research demonstrates how neural activity in motor regions of the brain influences visual representation in other regions. His work has established a deeper understanding of brain mechanisms underlying spatial attention and is relevant to our understanding of attention disorders.
Minhee Park, PhD
The postdoctoral scholar in developmental biology received the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The $231,000 award is for her research into the way chromatin folds inside the nucleus and the role it plays in epigenetic regulation.
Sergiu Pasca, MD
Pasca, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program, received the Basic Research Award from the Schizophrenia International Research Society. Pasca was recognized for pioneering methods of assembling patient-derived neural cells into three-dimensional organoids and using them to uncover the molecular mechanisms of genetic forms of neuropsychiatric disease.
Philip Pizzo, MD
Pizzo, the David and Susan Heckerman Professor and professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology, received the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Immunocompromised Host Society. The society recognized him for his pioneering work in pediatric HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases in cancer patients, antifungal therapy and other achievements.
Ansuman Satpathy, MD, PhD
The assistant professor of pathology was named a 2021 Pew-Stewart Scholar. The accompanying $300,000 award will allow him to better understand the molecular regulators of T cell exhaustion in cancer.
William Talbot, PhD
Talbot, a professor of developmental biology and former senior associate dean for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, won a 2020 Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Award for Contributions to Stanford University. He was recognized for his support of postdoctoral candidates from underrepresented groups and his pursuit of racial justice in the biosciences.
Amin Aalipour
Aalipour was named a 2020 STAT Wunderkind. The MD-PhD student has engineered cells to find solid cancer tumors. He is also developing viruses that kill cancer cells.
Jason Batten, MD
The anesthesia resident received the 2020 Jeremy Sugarman Award from Johns Hopkins University. The award is for achievement in bioethics research. He was recognized for his paper “Variation in the design of Do-Not-Resuscitate orders and other code status options: a multi-institutional qualitative study,” which was published in BMJ Quality and Safety.
Achintya Bhowmik, PhD
An adjunct professor of otolaryngology, Bhowmik was named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his work in developing devices that incorporate sensors and artificial intelligence to mimic human perception and cognition. They include multisensory hearing aids and computer vision systems that assist in navigation.
Charles K. F. Chan, PhD
An assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery, Chan has been appointed an investigator of the Heritage Medical Research Institute. The institute will support Chan’s study of skeletal stem cells’ ability to regenerate cartilage damaged by injury or disease.
Wah Chiu, PhD, and Serena Yeung, PhD
Chiu, the Wallenberg-Bienenstock Professor and a professor of bioengineering and of microbiology and immunology, and Yeung, assistant professor of biomedical data science, received a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Neurodegeneration Challenge Network award. They will use the $150,000 grant to study neurons using cryo-electron tomograms and a computer vision method with the goal of learning about the cellular structure and pathology of Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Agnieszka Czechowicz, MD, PhD
An assistant professor of pediatrics, Czechowicz has received an award from the National Blood Foundation. She will use the $75,000 grant to study genetic factors in Fanconi anemia that may lead to bone marrow failure and leukemia.
Neir Eshel, MD, PhD
An instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Eshel has received a 2020 SFARI Bridge to Independence Award from the Simons Foundation. The foundation provides the awardees with $495,000 to start autism research once they begin a tenure-track position. Eshel studies the neural mechanisms behind aggressive behavior in people with a range of psychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorders.
Dean Felsher, MD, PhD
The professor of medicine and of pathology received a 2020 Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute. The $7 million grant will be used to target oncogene pathways that could be blocked as a treatment for cancer.
Michael Fredericson, MD
A professor of orthopaedic surgery, Fredericson has received an award from the Pac-12 Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Grant Program. The $10,000 grant will allow him to implement a program to improve bone health and reduce bone stress injuries in long-distance runners who compete for Pacific-12 Conference colleges.
Robert Harrington, MD
Harrington, the Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor in Medicine, won the Distinguished National Leadership Award from the American Heart Association. He is the immediate past president of the association.
Paul Heidenreich, MD
A professor of cardiovascular medicine, Heidenreich won the Award of Meritorious Achievement from the American Heart Association for his work on improving care for patients with heart disease while lowering costs.
Tina Hernandez-Boussard, PhD, and Dennis Wall, PhD
Hernandez-Boussard, associate professor of biomedical informatics and of biomedical data science, and Wall, associate professor of pediatrics (systems medicine) and of biomedical data science, have been elected to the American College of Medical Informatics. Fellowship in the college is granted to those who have demonstrated sustained and significant contributions to biomedical informatics.
Karen Hirsch, MD
An associate professor of neurology and neurological sciences, Hirsch received an award from the National Institutes of Health. The $7.7 million grant, to be distributed over five years, will cover research into injury of the brain and other organs after cardiac arrest. Hirsch and her team will study biomarkers in cardiac arrest patients to predict their response to treatment and long-term recovery.
Yang Hu, MD, PhD, and Stanley Qi, PhD
Hu, assistant professor of ophthalmology, and Qi, assistant professor of bioengineering and of chemical and systems biology, received a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Neurodegeneration Challenge Network Award. The $150,000 grant will fund their research into screening tools and intervention techniques for glaucoma in mice using CRISPR gene-editing techniques.
James Longoria, MD
Longoria, clinical associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery, was named, for the fifth year in a row, a top doctor in cardiac surgery by Sacramento Magazine.
Yvonne Maldonado, MD
Maldonado, professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases and of epidemiology and population health, received an award from the National Institutes of Health’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations Program. The $3.3 million grant will help Northern Plains tribes address the COVID-19 pandemic through testing, health consultations and data management.
Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, and Sergiu Pasca, MD
Monje, associate professor of neurology, and Pasca, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, were winners in the life sciences category of the 2020 Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs competition. Monje was recognized for her discovery that certain brain cancers interact with normal neurons to help the malignant tumor grow, uncovering potential therapeutic strategies for lethal brain cancers. Pasca was recognized for developing 3D brain spheroids from pluripotent stem cells from patients, allowing the study of human neural circuits.
Monther Abu-Remaileh, PhD, and Suzanne Pfeffer
Abu-Remaileh, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and Pfeffer, the Emma Pfeiffer Merner Professor in Medical Sciences and professor of biochemistry, received an award from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s initiative. The $9 million grant, given in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Dundee in Scotland, is for further understanding Parkinson’s disease and the developing of therapies for it.
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD
Rando, professor of neurology and neurological sciences, received an award from the National Institutes of Health’s Alliance for Regenerative Rehabilitation Research. The $1 million grant is to improve physical functioning of people with disabilities by building connections between rehabilitation science and regenerative medicine.
Ansuman Satpathy, MD, PhD
Satpathy, assistant professor of pathology, received an award from the National Institutes of Health. The $2.6 million, five-year grant is to develop genome sequencing technologies that will improve the durability of immunotherapy for patients with cancer.
Stefanie Sebok-Syer, PhD
Sebok-Syer, instructor of emergency medicine, received a 2020 Stemmler Fund grant from the National Board of Medical Examiners. The $149,999 award is for research on assessing physician performance in collaborative, team-based clinical settings.
Lucy Shapiro, PhD
Shapiro, the D. K. Ludwig Professor and a professor of developmental biology, was awarded the Dickson Prize in Science from Carnegie Mellon University. The prize is for her work in understanding how a one-dimensional genetic code generates three-dimensional cellular architecture. She established that the cell is an integrated network operating in time and space, with implications for computer science networks and systems biology. Her research has informed the development of medications to fight infectious diseases.
SPARK
The SPARK program received an award from the Booz Allen Foundation. The $100,000 grant will be used to complete safety studies related to a trial of nose drops inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection. SPARK also won the 2020 National Xconomy award for ecosystem development.
Gary Steinberg, MD
Steinberg, the Bernard and Ronni Lacroute-William Randoph Hearst Professor in Neurosurgery and Neurosciences, received the 2020 Ralph G. Dacey, Jr. Medal for Outstanding Cerebrovascular Research from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The award, which includes a $1,000 cash prize, recognizes neurological surgeons who have made many contributions to understanding and treating cerebrovascular disease.
Alexander Urban, PhD, and Nolan Williams, MD
Urban and Williams, both assistant professors of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, received a One Mind Bipolar Research Award. The $20,000 grant is to advance understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder.