Honors and Grants

Alfred Ayala, Surgery, received the Society for Leukocyte Biology’s 2024 Legacy Keynote Lecture Award, the highest recognition from the society.

Beth Cronin, Obstetrics and Gynecology, was named director for the Division of Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Wafik El-Deiry, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has been named to the National Academy of Inventors Class of 2024 Senior Members. This distinction recognizes Dr. El-Deiry’s success in patents, licensing, and commercialization and for producing technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society.

Michael E. Migliori, Ophthalmology, accepted the 2023 Commitment to Advocacy Award to the Division of Ophthalmology from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The Commitment to Advocacy Award annually recognizes an ophthalmology training department and its leadership for outstanding support of the Academy's Ambassador Program. The Advocacy Ambassador Program is a collaboration with state, subspecialty and specialized interest societies, along with training programs, to support attendance by residents and fellowship trainees at the Mid-Year Forum.

Sanjay Mishra and Jeremy Warner, Legorreta Cancer Center, received the 2023 DataWorks! Grand Prize from the FASEB and NIH. DataWorks! showcases the benefits of research data management while recognizing and rewarding teams whose research demonstrates the power of data sharing or reuse practices to advance scientific discovery and human health. The team, CCC19, won for their project, COVID-19 and Cancer: Catalyzing Collaboration. CCC19 is a collaboration that collects data about patients with cancer who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. To understand and assess the uncertain effects of COVID-19 on people affected by cancer, CCC19 was founded in March 2020 and developed a robust and agile strategy to collect and disseminate prospective, granular, uniformly organized information on patients with cancer diagnosed with COVID-19 — at scale and as rapidly as possible.

Elyse Sauber, second-year medical student, was selected to attend the Pediatric Endocrine Society meeting as a 2024 PedsEndo Discovery Program attendee. This program includes meeting registration, special events for trainees, and a $1000 award to support her travel and lodging in Chicago for the meeting.

Kristi Wharton, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry (MCB), and colleagues had their article “Bone morphogenetic protein signaling: the pathway and its regulation,” selected as a Feature for the February issue of GENETICS.  

Federica Accornero, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry (MCB), received $364,583 for “Mechanistic characterization of a new master regulator of cardiac virus infections.” The grant is a subaward through Ohio State University from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).    

Leslie Brick, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $232,990 for “A Longitudinal EMA Study Examining the Role of Maternal Mood and Physical Symptoms on Women’s Cannabis Use Across the Perinatal Period.” The grant is a subaward through Butler Hospital from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She also received $250,535 for “Epigenetic mechanisms of risk and resilience: The role of parenting,” a subaward through the University of Rhode Island from the National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities.                   

Christina Cuomo, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology (MMI), received $84,884 for “Population studies of major human fungal pathogens: genomic and transcriptomic analyses of interactions with the host and microbiome and the rise of antifungal resistance.” The grant is a subaward through the Broad Institute from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  

Edward Huey, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Butler Hospital, received $144,100 for “Low-Dose Lithium for the Treatment of Behavioral Symptoms in Frontotemporal Dementia” from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation.             

Caroline Keroack, MMI, received $144,580 for “Defining the molecular mediators of cell morphogenesis in Trypanosoma cruzi” from the American Heart Association. Faculty sponsor is Christopher L. de Graffenried.

Judy Kimberly, Evaluation Director, received $28,962 for “Rhode Island Community-based Maternal Support Services (RI COMSS) Bundle for Advancing Perinatal Health Equity.” The grant is a subaward from Women & Infants Hospital through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.             

Sofia B. Lizarraga, MCB, received $400,000 for “Mechanistic based therapeutic strategies for ASH1L related ASD” from the Eagles Autism Foundation.

Jeffrey R. Morgan, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received $170,618 for “Biofabrication of Uterosacral Ligaments (BioUSL).” The grant is a subaward through Research Triangle Institute from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.         

Miles Mundy, Pathobiology graduate student, received $143,082 for “The Role of Pulmonary Natural Killer Cells in Cytomegalovirus Induced Pneumonitis” from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Faculty sponsor is Laurent Brossay.

Laura Whiteley, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $49,786 for “Identifying Factors to Improve Dental and Mental Healthcare among People with HIV.” The grant is a subaward from Rhode Island Hospital through the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.