Chair's Research Award: Past Winners | Duke Department of Medicine

Each year, the Department of Medicine provides resources through the Chair’s Research Award to fund up to two junior investigators in the Department who are making the transition to becoming independent scientists prior to their acquisition of extramural funding.

2023
Anika Lucas, MD, MTS Medical Instructor, Division of Nephrology	Cumulative Life Stress & Physiologic Dysregulation in Persons of African Ancestry
Neelima Navuluri, MD, MPH Assistant Professor, Division Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine	Establishing a Framework for Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Post-Tuberculosis Lung Disease”,
Julie Steinbrink, MD, MHS Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases	Developing a Pan-Fungal Transcriptomic Signature to Diagnose Invasive Fungal Infection

2022
Deepshikha Ashana, MD, MBA, MS Assistant Professor (Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care)	Racial disparities in shared decision making for patients with acute respiratory failure
Christopher Mosher, MD, MHS Medical Instructor (Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care)	Longitudinal Outcomes of COPD Metabolism Targeted by Exercise Intervention (LOCOMOTION)
Daniel Parker, MD Assistant Professor (Geriatrics)	Calories on the Brain: Leveraging Insights from Calorie Restriction to Promote Healthy Brain Aging
Matthew Sinclair, MD Medical Instructor (Nephrology)	Promoting Equity in Hispanic/Latinx and Black Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
2021
Stephen Greene, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology)	Use and Effectiveness of Outpatient Intravenous Diuretics for Worsening Heart Failure
Daniel Edmonston, MD Medical Instructor (Nephrology)	Novel Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets for Pulmonary Hypertension in End-Stage Renal Disease
2020
Marat Fudim, MD Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellow	Congestion Phenotypes and Splanchnic Nerve Modulation in Heart Failure
Julia Messina, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)	Enterococcus Domination of the Gut Microbiome in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies
2019
Julia Messina, MD Medical Instructor (Infectious Diseases)	Enterococcal Gut Microbiome in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies
Samira Musah, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)	Human Stem Cell Technologies for Mechanistic Studies of Kidney Disease
Joshua Thaden, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)	Characterization of E. coli Type III Secretion System Associated with Mortality
Nicholas Turner, MD Fellow, Infectious Diseases	Molecular Epidemiology of C. difficile in the Healthcare System and Community
2018
Stacey Maskarinec, MD Fellow, Infectious Diseases	Host-Pathogen Interactions of Staphylococcus aureus Cardiac Device-Associated Infections
Ting Yang, PhD Postdoctoral Associate, Nephrology	The cell specific actions of prostaglandin E2 receptor 4 in blood pressure control
2017
James Wisler, MD Fellow, Cardiovascular Disease	Mechanistic studies of Mas receptor activation and its role in aortic aneurysm formation
Ammon Fager, MD Fellow, Hematology-Oncology	Identifying Novel Mechanisms Regulating the Therapeutic Efficacy of Factor VIIa
2016
Robert McGarrah, MD Fellow, Cardiovascular Disease	A New Metabolic Regulatory Node in Myocardial Fuel Selection
James Wisler, MD Fellow, Cardiovascular Disease	Molecular mechanisms of aortic aneurysm formation
Joshua Thaden, MD Fellow, Infectious Diseases	Genetic Basis for Resistance and Virulence of E. coli Blood Stream Infections
Ammon Fager, MD Fellow, Hematology-Oncology	Identifying Novel Mechanisms Regulating the Therapeutic Efficacy of Factor VIIa
2015
Lindsay Rein, MD Medical Instructor (Hematological Malignancies and Cellular Therapy)	β–arrestin2 and the disease course of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and myelofibrosis
Grace Lee, MD Clinical Associate (Hematology)	Biological Significance of Protamine/Heparin Antibodies
2014
Dennis Abraham, MD Medical Instructor, Division of Cardiology	TREK-1 in fibroblast differentiation and cardiac fibrosis development
Juliessa Pavon, MD Medical Instructor, Division of Geriatrics	Adherence to venous thromboembolism prophylaxis guidelines in hospitalized elders
Lindsay Rein, MD Fellow, Hematology/Oncology	β–arrestin2 and the disease course of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and myelofibrosis
2013
Christina Barkauskas, MD Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine Fellow	The role of Pdgfra+ lipofibroblasts in the stem cell niche of type 2 alveolar epithelial cells
Matthew McKinney, MD Hematology-Oncology Fellow	Integrative chemical genomics in non Hodgkin lymphoma
Sudarshan Rajagopal, MD, PhD Cardiology Fellow	Noncanonical Receptor Signaling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
2012
Dennis Abraham, MD Cardiology Fellow	TREK-1 Mediates Diastolic Dysfunction
Christina Barkauskas, MD Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine Fellow	The role of alveolar epithelial cells in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis
Ravi Karra, MD, MHS Cardiology Fellow	Secreted Biomarkers for Heart Regeneration
2011
Jessica Chia, MD	Role of Aging and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Fibrosis
Matthew Sparks, MD	Role of Vascular Smooth Muscle Angiotensin Receptors in Blood Pressure Regulation
2010
Phuong Doan, MD	Bone marrow endothelial cells and regulating hematopoietic stem cell reconstitution
Sascha Tuchman, MD	Gene expression profiling refines prognosis and may guide therapy for multiple myeloma
Kent Nilsson, MD	Emerging role of ankyrin-B in cardiovascular diseases
2009
Katherine Garman, MD	Validation of gene expression patterns to predict recurrent colon cancer
Kathleen Lambert, MD	Role of type III TGF-beta receptor in multiple myeloma
David Holland, MD	Mathematical modeling in trials of TB therapeutics