Melissa Swee, MD, MME, clinical assistant professor in Nephrology and Hypertension, and Iowa VA Quality Scholars (VAQS) Program Director, has been awarded the Rising Star Award by the national VA Quality Scholars Program.

Bhagirath Chaurasia, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, has received a three-year, $450,000 grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. The grant will fund Chaurasia’s research program “Role of serine in development of obesity-induced insulin resistance.”

Samuel Stephens, PhD, Associate Professor in Endocrinology and Metabolism, has been awarded a three-year, $1.3M R01 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) for his project, Defining the contribution of mitochondrial redox metabolism to support proinsulin folding in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

Emma Stapleton, PhD, research assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, earned a one-year, $15,000 Environmental Health Sciences Research Center (EHSRC) Career Development Award (CDA). Contingent on her progress in Elucidating the role of IL-18 in airway epithelial response to inhaled antigens, the funding will be extended to a second year.

Miles Hagner, MD, instructor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, was recently awarded a two-year FSR Sarcoidosis Research Fellowship Grant in the amount of $150,000 for his project, The Role of Airway Epithelial Responses in Sarcoidosis Pathophysiology.

Wenjie Yu, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Welsh Lab in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, earned a Catalyst Award from the American Lung Association (ALA) in the amount of $50,000 per year for two years for his project, Submucosal Gland Hypertrophy in a Porcine Model of PCD: Histological, Cellular, and Pathophysiological Features.

Elissa Faro, PhD, assistant professor in General Internal Medicine, leads a 5-year, $3.79M R01 project funded by the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) aims to improve maternal mental health care through a combination of innovative methods with a foundation in social justice focused on centering the experiences of birthing people, families, and front-line professionals.

A multidisciplinary team led by primary investigators Nabeel Hamzeh, MD and Karin Hoth, PhD has earned a two-year, $575,000 grant from the Ann Theodore Foundation to study cognitive dysfunction in people with sarcoidosis. Co-investigators are Jacob Simmering, PhD, Vincent Magnotta, PhD.

Drs. Rachel Anderson, Adam Blaine, Katherine Harris, Krista Johnson, Tyler Maggio, Laurel Smeins, Alice Xu, and Kathie Zhang were presented the 2024 Culturally Responsive Health Care Award for the care provided to underserved patients in partnership with the Iowa City Free Medical and Dental Clinic (FMC).