Awards and Honors: Fall 2022

Bob Harrington Wins American Heart Association’s 2022 CLCD Distinguished Achievement Award

The American Heart Association’s Council on Clinical Cardiology has selected DOM Chair Bob Harrington, MD, Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine, to receive the 2022 CLCD Distinguished Achievement Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the affairs of a scientific council over a continuing period, and who have made substantial professional contributions to the field represented by the council. Congratulations, Bob!

Neera Ahuja Recognized as 2022 Denise O’Leary Award Recipient

This year’s recipient of the Denise O’Leary Award is Neera Ahuja, MD, clinical professor of medicine, medical director of general inpatient medicine and pharmacy, and division chief of hospital medicine, School of Medicine. The Denise O’Leary Award is an annual physician award that recognizes the values of clinical excellence, integrity, humility, inclusiveness, and collaboration. colleague Niraj Sehgal, MD, MPH, Stanford Health Care chief medical officer and senior associate dean of clinical affairs at the School of Medicine, expressed her gratitude for Ahuja’s contributions.   

“Dr. Ahuja brought consistent engagement, collaboration, and problem-solving when helping the organization manage our winter COVID surge and spring nursing strike,” Sehgal said. “She helped create surge teams, provided better night coverage, organized new care models, and leveraged her role as an active clinician to influence the right decisions for our patients. She has been a constant resource to so many parts of the organization, available 24/7 to respond to issues/concerns, and always open to adapting when necessary. Our patients, trainees, operational teams, and my own team are immensely grateful to her.” Congratulations, Neera!

VJ Periyakoil Receives UCLA 2022 David H. Solomon Memorial Award

VJ Periyakoil, MD, professor of primary care and population health, will receive the 2022 David H. Solomon (1923-2013) Memorial Award, a special award given in honor of the beloved Founding Director of the UCLA Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology (MPGMG) for nationally recognized leadership in geriatric medicine. This is the highest award given by UCLA to a clinical research leader in the field of aging. Congratulations, VJ!

Crystal Mackall Receives SFA's  2022 Nobility in Science Award

Crystal Mackall, MD,  Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor and professor of pediatrics and of medicine, will receive the Sarcoma Foundation of America's (SFA) Nobility in Science Award.

The Nobility in Science Award is given annually to a deserving, visionary sarcoma surgeon and researcher who has taken on an integral role in advancing drug development for sarcoma patients. Awardees receiving this honor have contributed in a significant way to the advancement of science, care and treatment for sarcoma patients.  Congratulations, Crystal!

Sherri Rose Receives NIH Pioneer Award

Congraulations to Sherri Rose, PhD, associate professor of health policy, who has been awarded an NIH Pioneer Award! These awards recognize bold, innovative projects, and only 8 were given in the entire US this year. Her work will develop complex causal network models by harnessing her expertise in machine learning, ethical AI, health economics, health policy, and statistics.

Fatima Rodriguez Receives 2022 Clinical Scientist Development Award

Congraulations to Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine, who has just received the 2022 Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.  The award sponsors 16 early-career physician-scientist faculty.

“We are excited to support this group of Clinical Scientist Development Awardees, whose research projects encompass highly significant questions, approaches and insights yielded from their interactions with patients and the healthcare system,” said Sindy Escobar Alvarez, director for medical research at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. “Whether improving understanding of disease mechanisms or illuminating insights into access to care, their contributions to the biomedical field are invaluable, and we look forward to following their important work.” 

Sydney Lu Receives 2022 Clinical Scientist Development Award

Sydney Lu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of hematology, has also received a 2022 Clinical Scientist Development Award. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation recently announced the 16 early-career physician-scientist faculty receiving a total of $7.9 million in 2022 Clinical Scientist Development Awards, and Lu’s project, “Targeting Cancer-Associated RNA Splicing Factor Mutations and Resultant Neoantigens for Immunotherapy” was one of the 16 selected.  Congratulations, Sydney!

Chwen-Yuen Angie Chen Wins WIM Summit Resilience Award

Congratulations to Chwen-Yuen Angie Chen, MD, clinical associate professor of primary care and population health, for winning the Women in Medicine Summit's annual Resilience Award, which is meant to honor strength, grit, tenacity, and grace in difficult circumstances.

Samantha Wang Receives Rathmann Fellowship

Samantha Wang, MD, clinical assistant professor of medicine, has received the Rathmann Fellowship, which provides funding to support a Stanford faculty, fellow or chief resident to pursue scholarly activities focused on the promotion of patient-centered care in medical education. Congratulations, Samantha! 

Sunteasja Billings Named People’s Choice Awardee at Stanford-HBMC Research Retreat

Congratulations to Sunteasja Billings, MHS, on the selection of her project, entitled “A Computational Approach to Making Data F.A.I.R.,” for the 2022 Stanford-HBMC Research Retreat People's Choice Award. Sunteasja, a second year medical student from Meharry Medical College, participated in the Stanford HBMC student mentorship program this summer, spending her time at "Stanford’s BMIR lab learning the guiding principles of scientific data management and sharing." Retreat participants, including research mentors and medical students, selected the project for this award.

DOM Trainees Receive Stanford Postdoc JEDI Champion Awards

Stephanie Bachas-Daunert, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in infectious diseases; Shawna Follis, PhD, MS, postdoctoral research fellow at SPRC,  and Soumaya Zlitni, PhD, basic life research scientist in hematology, have been awarded Stanford Postdoc JEDI Champion Awards. These awards recognize current Stanford University postdoctoral scholars who have championed initiatives, activities, or efforts that advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) at Stanford and beyond. Congratulations to all three!

Angela Rogers Named Director of New Critical Care Research Medicine Program

We are happy to announce a new leadership position for Angela Rogers, MD, associate professor of pulmonary, allergy, and critical care medicine. She has been named the Director of the new Critical Care Medicine Research Program in the Department of Medicine at Stanford. In her new role, Rogers will design, implement, and lead an interdisciplinary team of critical care investigators, helping to direct and lead collaborative Stanford-based and extramural CCM grant proposals. This leadership position dovetails with the DOM's major effort in 2022-23 to build team science among our medicine divisions. Congratulations, Angela!

Joyce Sackey to Become Stanford Medicine Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer

Joyce Sackey, MD, FACP, an accomplished leader of diversity and inclusion in academia, will join Stanford Medicine as the inaugural chief diversity and inclusion officer. Her appointment began September 1st, and she will report to the dean of the school of medicine and the medical center’s two hospital CEOs.