Researcher Recognition, May-July 2025
Post Date: August 27, 2025 | Publish Date:
Congratulations to these Cincinnati Children’s scientists who have recently been recognized in their fields of expertise.
Annabelle Anandappa Received Conquer Cancer-Women Leaders in Oncology Endowed Young Investigator Award and Prestigious Cancer Research Training Award
Annabelle Anandappa, MD, clinical fellow, Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology Research, was selected for the Conquer Cancer-Women Leaders in Oncology (WLO) Endowed Young Investigator Award. The WLO is a community dedicated to empowering women in oncology through collaboration and shared opportunities.
In addition, she was named a 2025 Damon Runyon Physician-Scientist Training Award recipient—one of only three recipients chosen nationwide.
Chidiogo Anyigbo Received Two Awards at ACTS Conference
Chidiogo Anyigbo, MD, MPH, attending physician, General and Community Pediatrics, was honored with two awards at this year’s Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Conference. She was the national winner of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition in the early career category as well as the recipient of the Early Career Equity Award from the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness (JEDI) Special Interest Group.
Katia Crisler Received Prestigious ASH Fellowship Award
Katia Crisler, MD, MEd, a clinical fellow in the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, was awarded the 2025 Hematology Inclusion Pathway (HIP) Fellow Award by the American Society of Hematology (ASH). This award supports early-career hematology researchers from diverse backgrounds and includes $100,000 in grant funding for two to three years of protected time to pursue a clinical or lab-based hematology research project.
William DeFoor Named UC Educator of the Year
William DeFoor Jr., MD, MPH, a urologist and the Division of Urology’s clinical research director, received the Educator of the Year Award from the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Urology.
Barbara Giambra Elected Treasurer of International Family Nursing Association
Barbara Giambra, PhD, RN, CPNP, was elected treasurer of the International Family Nursing Association, a global organization with a focus on advancing the practice, research and education of family nursing worldwide. Giambra is a pediatric nurse practitioner and assistant professor at UC College of Nursing.
Simon Han Receives Inaugural Aaditya Adlakha Scientific Service Award
The UC College of Medicine selected Simon Han, an MD/PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), as the first recipient of the Aaditya Adlakha Scientific Service Award. Established to honor the memory of Aaditya Adlakha, a beloved student whose kindness, service and spirit continue to inspire the Development, Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine (DSRM) program community.
Human Research Protection Program Received Full AAHRPP Reaccreditation
Cincinnati Children’s Human Research Protection Program recently received full reaccreditation by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Program (AAHRPP), having first been accredited in 2007. AAHRPP provides accreditation for organizations that conduct or review human research and can demonstrate that their protections exceed the safeguards required by the international guidelines and laws governing research involving humans. With this accreditation, Cincinnati Children’s is among an elite group of institutions around the world that are committed to promoting AAHRPP’s high standards for ethical research that prioritize the safety and welfare of research participants.
Brad Kurowski Appointed President-Elect of the ACRM
Brad Kurowski, MD, MS, co-director of the Brain Recovery After Injury (BRAIN) Health and Wellness Center and an associate professor of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, was appointed president-elect of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). He will serve in this capacity until 2027, at which time he will assume the role of president.
Avani Modi Named Recipient of American Epilepsy Society Award in Ethical Neuropsychiatry
Avani Modi, PhD, division director, Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, was named the 2025 recipient of the American Epilepsy Society’s (AES) Rebecca Goldberg Kaufman Clinical Award in Ethical Neuropsychiatry. The award honors the memory of the educator and mother of a child with epilepsy. Modi was selected for her contributions to the field regarding self-management, adherence, and quality of life and working to improve health related outcomes for patients with epilepsy.
Jeff Molkentin Received International Heart Research Achievement Award
Jeffery Molkentin, PhD, Heart Institute co-director and division director of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, received a Research Achievement Award from the International Society for Heart Research at its XXV World Congress in Nara, Japan. The organization’s mission is to promote the discovery and dissemination of knowledge in the cardiovascular sciences on a worldwide basis through publications, congresses and other media.
Whitney Nichols Earned ASH Award to Advance Hematology Research
Whitney Nichols, MD, MS, a Med-Peds resident, was selected for the Hematology Inclusion Pathway (HIP) Resident Award by the American Society of Hematology (ASH). The award supports residents conducting blood science research under the guidance of an ASH mentor. Participants also receive career development support, complimentary ASH membership, and a stipend to attend and present their research at the ASH annual meeting.
Bhagwat Prasad Named Recipient of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology’s (ACCP) Roger Jelliffe Award
The American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) named Bhagwat Prasad, PhD, director, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, the recipient of its 2025 Roger Jelliffe Individualized Therapy Award. This award is given annually to an individual who significantly advances the field of personalized medicine by improving the use of drugs or biologics in patients.
Carley Riley Named Among Women’s Fund Changemakers
Carley Riley, MD, MPP, an attending physician in Critical Care Medicine and a community systems steward for the Michael Fisher Child Health Equity Center, was recognized by the Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation as a 2025 Community Changemaker. As part of the Women’s Fund’s 30th Anniversary celebration, Riley was one of more than 50 women nominated for their powerful, equity-driven impact.
Sarat “Bobby” Thikkurissy Appointed American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Board Officer
Sarat “Bobby” Thikkurissy, DDS, MS, MA, professor, Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, was appointed the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s (AAPD) parliamentarian for the 2025-2026 Academy year. The AAPD’s nearly 12,000 members provide primary care and comprehensive dental specialty treatments for infants, children, adolescents and individuals with special health care needs.
Bailey Weatherbee Earns Prestigious Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship
Bailey Weatherbee, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Zorn Lab, Developmental Biology, has been selected as one of 29 fellows in the highly competitive 2025 Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research program. Weatherbee’s research will explore how transcription factors that guide early embryonic development may also bind RNA—a mechanism potentially linked to congenital disease and cancer.
Cincinnati Children’s Awards
2025 Arnold W. Strauss Fellow Awards
Sponsored by the Office of Clinical Fellowships and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Strauss award is a one-year, $10,000 funding opportunity given to clinical and postdoctoral fellows who demonstrate a strong commitment to research, a clearly established mentorship program and a distinctive research proposal plan. The 2025 recipients are:
Strauss (PhD) Research Fellow Awardees
- Vikram Kulkarni, PhD, MS, Pulmonary Biology
Mentor: Jichao Chen, PhD - Vanessa Orellana Villazon, MD, MPH, MSc, Anderson Center
Mentor: Ellen Lipstein, MD - Shannon Shearer, PhD, Neonatology
Mentor: Amélie Collins, MD, PhD
Strauss Fellowship for Global Health Awardee
- James Segars, MD, Emergency Medicine
Mentor: Sean M Kivlehan, MD, MPH
Strauss (Clinical) Fellowship Awardees
- Katia Crisler, MD, MEd, Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute
Mentor: Meghan McGrady, PhD - Elizabeth Lendrum, MD, Emergency Medicine
Mentor: David Schnadower, MD, MPH - Joshua Sheak, MD, PhD, Neonatology
Mentor: William Zacharias, MD, PhD - Aimée Vester, MD, PhD, General and Community Pediatrics
Mentor: Kimberly Yolton, PhD
Behavioral and Mental (BAM) Health Award
Rana Elmaghraby, MD, child and adolescent psychiatrist, received the award for a new study, “Improving Outcomes in Adolescent Inpatient Depression with Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (dTMS): A Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial.” If successful, findings from this study will lay the groundwork offering a new dimension of intervention for adolescents hospitalized for severe, treatment-resistant depression.
Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation Endowed Scholars Awardees
The goals of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation Endowed Scholars Program, generously supported by Cincinnati Children’s funds, are to recognize and accelerate the success of assistant and associate professors who are emerging leaders as demonstrated by their scientific contributions and their impact. The recent recipients are:
- Makiko Iwafuchi, PhD, Developmental Biology
- Catherine Makarewich, PhD, Molecular and Cardiovascular Biology
- Tamara Tilburgs, PhD, Immunobiology
Gap Funding Award Recipients
The Cincinnati Children’s Gap Funding program provides one year of support to maintain R-level research programs at the NIH or equivalent. The recent recipients are:
- Ravindra Arya, MD, DM, Neurology
- Jasbir Dhaliwal, MBBS, MRCPCH, MSc, Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
- Brian Gebelein, PhD, Developmental Biology, director, DSRM Graduate Program
- June Goto Nakamura, PhD, Pediatric Neurosurgery
- Christina Gross, PhD, Neurology
- Jennifer Kaplan, MD, MS, director, Clinical Research, attending physician, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
- Lisa Privette Vinnedge, PhD, Oncology
- Stephen Waggoner, PhD, Center for Autoimmune Genomics & Etiology (CAGE)
Place Outcomes Access to Care Phase III Award
This funding opportunity was developed to encourage multi-disciplinary teams of researchers, clinicians, patients and families to work together to collectively solve a priority hospital operational issue—access to care. The recent recipient is Martine Lamy, MD, PhD, associate chief of staff for Mental Health, medical director, Neurobehavioral Psychiatry Continuum of Care, Division of Child Psychiatry.
Place Outcomes Research Award Recipients
The Place Outcomes Research Award supports and accelerates outcomes, health services, and implementation research at Cincinnati Children’s by funding studies to improve health and healthcare service delivery. The recent recipients are:
- Katherine Bowers, PhD, MPH, Biostatistics and Epidemiology
- Kelli Dominick, MD, PhD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Tanya Mullins, MD, MS, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
- Jennifer Reed, MD, MS, Emergency Medicine
Research Innovation and Pilot (RIP) Funding Award
This funding program is for projects that are unusual (Innovation) or alternatively, are essential (Pilot) and are therefore good candidates for external funding after preliminary data has been obtained. The recent recipient is Thomas Nienaber, MBBS, neonatologist, Neonatology & Pulmonary Biology.
Trustee Award
The goal of the Trustee Grant Award is to provide research funds for junior faculty to aid in the rapid achievement of independent, sustained extramural funding for their research program. The recent award recipients are:
- Hailong Li, PhD, Imaging Research Center
- Linde Miles, PhD, Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology
- Xufeng Xue, PhD, Developmental Biology, Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Medicine (CuSTOM)
Young Investigator Diversity Research Award (YIDRA)
The Place Outcomes Young Investigator Diversity Research Award (YIDRA) is directed toward senior fellows and junior faculty conducting research focused specifically on health disparities and equity as well as senior fellows and junior faculty from groups under-represented in medicine conducting all types of health services, outcomes, implementation, and learning health system research. The recent recipient is Eleanor Young, MD, clinical fellow, Hospital Medicine.
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The Research Horizons blog features news and insights about the latest discoveries and innovations developed by the scientists of Cincinnati Children's. This blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Email researchnews@cchmc.org with questions or ideas.
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