Honors and Grants

Silvia Chiang, Pediatrics (Infectious Disease), received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to conduct TB research in Brazil during the 2023-24 academic year.

Emily Franco MD’24 was awarded a competitive Minority Medical Student Award from the American Society of Hematology for her sickle cell research with Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine Patrick McGann. Emily is in the Translational Research Concentration of the Scholarly Concentration Program.

Gary Frishman, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women & Infants Hospital, was named co-editor for The Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology with his five-year term to start in July. He has previously served two five-year terms as deputy editor.

Katherine Mason, Pediatrics, has been appointed assistant dean for faculty development effective July 1. In this role, she will be responsible for providing strategic planning and leadership around programming, resources, and initiatives to support the approximately 2,400 Warren Alpert Medical School faculty. In April, she was one of 16 inductees into the National Academy of Distinguished Educators in Pediatrics, which only inducts a new cohort once every three years.

Alexander Phillips MD’24 was first author on “Medicaid Section 1115 Waivers: From Work Requirements To Social Determinants Of Health,” which appeared in the journal Health Affairs. Co-authors are Eli Y. Adashi, MD, and MaryBeth Musumeci, JD, of George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health.

Patricia Poitevien, Pediatrics, Senior Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, was also named to the National Academy of Distinguished Educators in Pediatrics (NADEP). Members are chosen every three years after careful peer review by expert NADEP members. The purpose of NADEP is to recognize elite medical educators, foster exchange and dissemination of innovative ideas, and to accelerate the development of junior and mid-career educators.                                                                                         

Peter A. Belenky, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology (MMI), received $47,103 for the Axbio Sequencing Collaborative from Axbio Inc.

Lalit Beura, MMI, received $25,000 for “Developmental origin and function of antiviral CD8 T cells in the female reproductive mucosa” from the Rhode Island Foundation.                    

Alethea Desrosiers, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $246,872 for “Expanding the Reach of Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatment: Diffusion and Spillover of Mental Health Benefits Among Peer Networks and Caregivers of Youth Facing Compounded Adversity in Sierra Leone.” The grant is a subaward from Boston College through the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Yu-Wen Alvin Huang, Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry (MCB), received $25,000 for “The role of Inflammatory CHI3L1 signaling in neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's Disease” from the Rhode Island Foundation.

Mukesh Jain, dean of medicine and biological sciences, received $957,000 for “KLF control of aging and age-associated cardiovascular disease” from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).                    

Mark A. Johnson, MCB, received $10,000 for “HHMI Driving Change at Brown,” a supplement from Howard Hughes Medical Institute.                              

Sanghyun Lee, MMI, received $211,700  for “Surfaceome CRISPRa screening for cellular receptors for seasonal coronaviruses” from ModernaTX.             

Eric M. Morrow, MCB, received $314,215 for “Mechanisms of disease and treatment in novel metabolic developmental brain disorders” from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Thomas Roberts, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, received $2,240,479 for Elastic mechanisms in locomotion-(2023-2027) from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin.

Louisa I. Thompson, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $879,561 for “Accelerating digital cognitive screening for Alzheimer's disease in the Primary Care Setting” from the National Institute on Aging.

Hongwei Yao, MCB, received $25,000 for “Upregulating Cpt1a inhibits hyperoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension by decreasing EndoMT” from the Rhode Island Foundation.