Honors and Grants

Jennifer Gass, Obstetrics and Gynecology, is receiving an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from her undergraduate alma mater, Dickinson College. a leader in advancing the breast health of women, has been director of the Breast Health Center at Care New England in Providence, Rhode Island, since 2021.

Semsa Gogcu, Pediatrics, was elected president of the Eastern Society for Perinatal Research. 

B. Star Hampton, Obstetrics and Gynecology, president of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, presided over its annual scientific meeting and delivered the presidential address on April 1.

Anne CC Lee, Pediatrics, has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Kimberly Mowry, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry (MCB), was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest general scientific societies. Mowry’s research is focused on understanding the mechanisms by which informational molecules, such as mRNA and protein, are localized to specified regions of the cell cytoplasm. Her recent work resulted in the discovery that RNA transport cargos are biomolecular condensates with a solid RNA phase.

Gene Oh ’24 MD’29, Program in Liberal Medical Education student, and his co-founder, Felix Lee ’26, took second place in the Brown Venture Prize, wining $15,000 for their company, DAYGUARD. This peach-flavored jelly stick mitigates hangovers and protects liver health when drinking alcohol.

Brett Owens, Orthopaedics, received the 2025 Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughn Award—the highest award in orthopedic surgery—for his group's work on shoulder instability in the military. The award is bestowed annually for outstanding clinical research related directly to musculoskeletal disease or injury. He was also named the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Thomas Roberts, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Roberts’ research aims to understand the link between muscle mechanical behavior and locomotor performance. He is known for discovering mechanisms that improve muscular performance in animals for a wide range of movements, which has inspired the design of robots, prosthetics and exoskeletal devices.

Fred J. Schiffman, Medicine, has been awarded the Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Scholar Award for Scholarly Activities in the Humanities and History of Medicine by the American College of Physicians. The award is given for outstanding scholarly activities in history, literature, philosophy, and ethics and contributions to humanism in medicine.

Julia Shinnick, obstetrics and gynecology, received the Rising Star Award from Society of Gynecologic Surgeons.

Vivian Sung, obstetrics and gynecology, received the President’s Award for Dedicated Services to the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons.

Betty Vohr, Pediatrics, received a Brown Distinguished Research Achievement Award, which is supported by the offices of the President and the Provost to nurture and recognize the extraordinary research contributions of Brown's faculty.

Ahmed S. Abdelfattah, Neuroscience, received $25,000 for “Supplemental support for the development of high spatiotemporal resolution neuronal imager,” a subaward through Physical Sciences, Inc. from the National Institute of Mental Health.                            

Vivian G. Cheung, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, received $1,984,999, a transfer award for “A comprehensive study of APOE and the noncoding RNA AANCR to advance Alzheimer's Disease treatment” from the National Institute on Aging.

Eunyoung Cho, Epidemiology and Dermatology, received $120,000 for “Assessment of the SDOH elements on the Disease burden, Quality of Life and Health care in vitiligo patients” from Incyte Corporation.

Wafik S. El-Deiry, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received $65,001 for “Preclinical therapeutic modulation of HIF and TRAIL responses” from Smurf-Therapeutics Inc.

Brandon Gaudiano, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, received $3,499,235 for “Evaluating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy for SMI implemented in a community mental health setting,” an R01 from the National Institute of Mental Health.                 

Katarina Q. Ho, medical student, received $2,500 for “Use of Intubation Kits With Checklists to Reduce Intubation Risks in Rwanda” from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Foundation.

Diane Hoffman-Kim, Neuroscience, received $173,010 for “Multiscale, Physics-Based Approach for Blast and Blunt Traumatic Brain Injury Prediction and Prevention, a subaward through the University of Wisconsin, Madison from the Office of Naval Research.

Eric J. Kim MD’25 received $3,000 for “Risk Analysis of US Disparities in Conjunctival Melanoma by Medicaid” from the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Anne S. Lee, Pediatrics, received $25,000 for “World Health Organization Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement (WHO AMANHI) study Supplementary Analysis” from the World Health Organization.       

Adam Levine, Emergency Medicine, received $4,584 for a Supplement to Development of a Mobile Health Personalized Physiologic Analytics Tool for Pediatric Patients with Sepsis, a subaward through Rhode Island Hospital from the Fogarty International Center.” 

John Marshall, MCB, received $54,100 for “Pine Resin Extract Application in Angelman Syndrome from Angelman e.V.            

Carla Martín, Medical Education, received $20,000 for “Bilingual Family-Centric Educational Videos and Materials on Obesity” from the American College of Physicians. 

Patricia Poitevien, Pediatrics, and Anne Vera Cruz, OBEDI, received $100,000 for The Brown Advocates for Social Change & Equity Mentor Champions from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.

Edward G. Walsh, Brain Science, received $8,564 for “Phenotyping Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction Using Non-Invasive Biomarkers Continuation,” a subaward through Ocean State Research Institute from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).                                 

Jon D. Witman, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, received $8,000 for “Monitoring Heatwave Impacts on Cashes Ledge Kelp forests, The Foundation of a Proposed National Marine Sanctuary” from the New England Biolabs Foundation. He also received $15,569 for the Administration of Ruth D. Turner Scholarships in Marine Biology Phase 3 from the Ruth D. Turner Foundation.