Honors and Grants

Akshay Amesur ’24 MD’28 received the Joslin Award, which is presented to senior undergraduate students who have contributed in a significant way to the quality of student life at Brown. Amesur’s contributions to Brown have focused on enhancing student access to entrepreneurship and medicine and helping students build relevant skills. Amesur co-founded the Brown Medical Entrepreneurship Society, a 150-member community for students to explore the intersections of medicine and business. He and his peers organized guest speakers, held international conferences, and partnered with the New England Medical Innovation Center to connect Brown students with local health care startups.

Jeffrey Bailey, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate and Postdoctoral Teaching and Mentoring in the Biological Sciences.

Daisy Bassen, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, was named a “Woman to Watch” in the Providence Business News’ 2024 Business Women Awards. Bassen is the medical director of Thrive Behavioral Health Inc.

Peter Belenky, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Advising and Mentoring in the Biological Sciences.

Maggie Bublitz, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, has received a Fulbright Scholarship to study maternal mental health in the United Kingdom and New Zealand in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Yul Ejnes, Medicine, one of Coastal Medical Inc.’s founding partners, as won the Alfred Stengel Memorial Award for Outstanding Service from the American College of Physicians. The award recognizes internal medicine physicians for their innovative, impactful and sustained contributions to the field. Ejnes was selected based on his work as a master of the ACP and his focus on advancing the standard of medical education, medical practice and clinical research.

Tanuja Gandhi, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, was appointed to serve as chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s National Membership Committee. She was also awarded the APA’s Assembly Resident Fellow Member Mentor Award for mentoring residents and fellows.

Bethany Gentilesco, Medicine, received the Dean’s Mentorship Award in Diversity and Equity, which recognizes a faculty member for their extraordinary dedication to mentoring medical students and residents in the promotion of diversity, inclusion, and health equity.

Elizabeth Harrington, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, received the Brown Graduate School’s 2024 Faculty Award for Advising and Mentoring.

Sabina Holland, Pediatrics, received the Dean’s Mentorship Award in Diversity and Equity, which recognizes a Warren Alpert Medical School faculty member for their extraordinary dedication to mentoring medical students and residents in the promotion of diversity, inclusion, and health equity.

Lawrence Huang '21 MD’27 received a 2024 AΩA Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship Award for his project “Air Quality and Equity in New York City: a novel spatiotemporal model of the effects of per-neighborhood PM2.5 on emergency department visits.”

Mark Johnson, MCB, received the Karen T. Romer Award for Excellence in Advising.

Gajendra Kumar, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry was a Junior Faculty Teaching Fellow, 2023-24.

Graduate students received the following awards at Commencement:

• Valeria Brown, MD/PhD student, won the 2024 American Society of Hematology Minority Medical Student Award Program.
• Janet Joseph, Pathobiology PhD student, received a National Science Foundation Fellowship.
• Xingjian (Gavin) Lu, Biomedical Engineering PhD student, received a Frank Fellow Award. 
• Erin Skeens, MCB PhD student, won the 2024 American Chemical Society Division of Biological Chemistry Young Investigator Award.
• Rebecca Tripp, Neuroscience PhD student, received a Frank Fellow Award. 
• Cel Welch, Biomedical Engineering PhD student, received the Joukowsky Family Foundation Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Jerome Larkin, Medicine, was appointed health director for the state of Rhode Island.

Ivan Miller, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received the Dean’s Award for Faculty Research Mentoring in the Division of Biology and Medicine. This award recognizes a faculty member (campus or hospital-based) in the Division of Biology and Medicine for outstanding research mentoring of junior faculty.

David Peede, Doctoral Candidate in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Graduate School.

David Rand, Chair of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, received the Elizabeth LeDuc Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Life Sciences.

Amanda Ruiz, Doctoral Candidate in Pathobiology, received the Reginald D. Archambault Award for Teaching Excellence in Pre-College Education from the School of Professional Studies.

Micaela Weaver, Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynecology, received the 2024 Young Alumna Award from Bridgewater College (VA).

Lalit Beura and Shipra Vaishnava, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology (MMI), received $424,955 for “Interrogating mucosal resident memory CD8 T cell biology with 3D organoids” from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).       

Mark A. Johnson, Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry (MCB), received $15,000 to support the 27th International Congress on Sexual Plant Reproduction from the National Science Foundation. 

Erica N. Larschan, MCB, received $2,199,925 for “Coregulation of genes by pioneer transcription factors and noncoding RNAs” from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.                   

Sendurai Mani, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received $5,000,000 for “Addressing the Urgent Challenges in High Mortality and Racial Disparities in Pancreatic Cancer” from the Papitto Opportunity Connection.

Katherine Siddle, MMI, received $250,000 for “Northeast Pathogen Genomics Center of Excellence.” The grant is a subaward through the Broad Institute from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.           

Marc Tatar, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, received $3,160,658 for “Age remodels kidney-adrenal-heart interorgan communication” from the National Institute on Aging.

Jeremy L. Warner, Medicine and Biostatistics, received $3.5 million for a U01 award for “The COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) Registry” from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Sonya Reid at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center is also an MPI of this multi institutional award.