Three Researchers Honored with 2020 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards

Three Stanford Department of Medicine researchers have been recognized for their groundbreaking clinical studies published in peer-reviewed journals in 2019. On April 15, the Clinical Research Forum (CRF) issued a release naming the 2020 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award recipients, which include the Department’s  Rebecca Sharon Chinthrajah, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine and pediatrics,  Ken Mahaffey, MD, professor of cardiovascular medicine, and Marco Perez, MD, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine. The CRF says these prestigious awards honor research that is advancing therapies and treatments for diseases through innovation and scientific rigor and include the following studies:

As the representing author of Sustained outcomes in oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy (POISED study): a large, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 study, Chinthrajah is aiming to develop the first FDA-approved therapeutic for peanut allergies, a discovery that could advance overall food allergy treatment options. The work is published in The Lancet.

Canagliflozin and Renal Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes and Nephropathy, led by Mahaffey, demonstrates that canagliflozin can significantly reduce disability and death in patients with diabetes and kidney disease, a discovery that will help inform clinicians caring for these patients. “It is the first time that there is a therapy for patients with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease that decreases kidney failure,” reports the CRF. Mahaffey’s work is also one of three projects further honored and named a Distinguished Clinical Research Achievement Award recipient. According to the CRF, this achievement recognizes creative and innovative research that will have “an immediate impact on the health and well-being of patients” and includes a $5,000 cash prize. The paper is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The first study of its kind, Large-Scale Assessment of a Smartwatch to Identify Atrial Fibrillation monitored atrial fibrillation in over 419,000 participants via smartwatch. Led by Perez, the research establishes feasibility of conducting a large-scale digital clinical trial at a relatively low cost per patient. CRF says the work, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, lays a “foundation on which future digital health studies can be designed.”

A ceremony was scheduled in Washington, D.C. but was changed to a virtual event due to the coronavirus pandemic. To learn more about the winning studies, view the CRF’s list of the Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awardees.