UVA President Jim Ryan has presented the first Research Achievement Awards to 13 faculty members, including two from the School of Medicine.
“I’m awed and immensely grateful for the contributions the award winners have made to their respective fields and to the University of Virginia,” he said in announcing the awards. “Our strategic plan focuses a good deal of attention on supporting research. … Our ultimate goal is to make it possible for researchers at UVA to do their very best work.”
Ken Walsh, PhD, of the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center and UVA’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, was honored for his pioneering work examining how blood-cell mutations lead to conditions such as stroke and heart attacks. He is using precision medicine to identify and hopefully stop the resulting processes that play into these age-related diseases, as well as blood cancers such as leukemia.
Sean Moore, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist at UVA Children’s, was presented with the Research Mentor Award. Three of his colleagues nominated him, citing his generosity with his time, support and guidance as they navigated the grant process for the first time. They noted that Moore had gone above and beyond, sharing lab space and giving them a critical boost early in their careers.
“This is the first year of the Research Achievement Awards,” UVA Vice President for Research Melur “Ram” Ramasubramanian said. “We believe that as a university, we are what we celebrate. We want to acknowledge the talented UVA faculty who are leaders in their fields and are impacting the world in positive ways.”
The award winners were honored at a dinner that also included recognition for our Rebecca Dillingham, MD, and Karen Ingersoll, PhD, as the UVA Licensing & Venture Group’s Innovators of the Year, which I told you about previously.
Finally, the ceremony recognized researchers who are in the top 25 in sponsored funding, top cited, national award winners, named to a national academy, or named as an outstanding researcher for their school. The School of Medicine’s honorees:
Jayakrishna Ambati, Ophthalmology
Ruth Bernheim, Public Health Sciences
Alison K. Criss, Microbiology /GIDI
Rebecca Dillingham, Infectious Diseases
Linda R. Duska, Obstetrics/Gynecology Oncology
Anindya Dutta, Biochemistry/Molecular Genetics
W. Jeff Elias, Neurosurgery
Edward H. Egelman, Biochemistry/Molecular Genetics
Robin A. Felder, Clinical Pathology
Eric R. Houpt, Infectious Diseases
Karen Ingersoll, Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
Karen C. Johnston, Neurology
Jaideep Kapur, Neurology
Anne K. Kenworthy, Molecular Physics and Biophysics
Jonathan Kipnis, Neuroscience
Robert C. Klesges, Public Health Sciences
Boris P. Kovatchev, Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
Thomas P. Loughran, Oncology and Medicine
Coleen A. McNamara, Internal and Cardiovascular Medicine
Wladek Minor, Molecular Physics and Biophysics
Sean R. Moore, Pediatrics
James P. Nataro, Pediatrics
Imre Noth, Internal and Pulmonary Medicine
Mark D. Okusa, Nephrology
Gary K. Owens, Cardiovascular Research, Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics
Kevin A. Pelphrey, Neurology
William A. Petri, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases
Kodi S. Ravichandran, Microbiology
Patricio E. Ray, Pediatrics
Stephen S. Rich, Public Health Sciences
Lukas K. Tamm, Molecular Physics and Biophysics
Gregory C. Townsend, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases
Kenneth Walsh, Internal and Cardiovascular Medicine
Katharine Hsu Wibberly, Public Health Sciences
Michael C. Wiener, Molecular Physics and Biophysics
Mark Yeager, Molecular Physics and Biophysics
James C. Zimring, Pathology
For the full list of Research Achievement Awards winners, check out UVA Today’s coverage.