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PROSPER Award

The PRomotion of FellOwS‘ PEdiatric Research (PROSPER) Award supports fellows from underrepresented in medicine (URiM) backgrounds who are pursuing child health research. Aligned with the Society’s mission to cultivate a diverse network of child health researchers through collaboration, community, mentorship, and advocacy, this competitive award provides material support and mentorship for a one-year research project that strengthens an academic, research-focused career trajectory.

This award provides $5,000 in funding, matched by the recipient’s organization. Funds may come from mentor, chair, diversity office, and/or other sources. The source of matching funds must be defined in the letter of support from Division Head or Department Chair.

Submission Timeline:  August 15 – September 30

Award

  • Up to two awardees selected annually
  • $5,000 in funding, matched by the recipient’s organization
  • Formal recognition at the PAS Meeting
Two individuals standing in front of a backdrop with “Society for Pediatric Research” logos, each holding a recognition plaque and certificate, while another person takes a photo of them.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Hold an MD, DO and/or PhD
  • Preference given to those who are Emerging to Established (E2E) members of the Society for Pediatric Research; those who are not yet E2E members are encouraged to apply as membership is open to all fellows
  • Accepted to and/or enrolled in a fellowship
  • Conducting or planning to conduct child or adolescent health research (basic, preclinical, clinical, or implementation and health services research)
  • Self-identification as under-represented in medicine background(s); individuals from groups identified by NIH as under-represented in biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences including Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and women as well as individuals with disabilities or other life experiences that contribute to diversity are encouraged to apply
  • Intends to pursue an academic career with a major focus on pediatric research
  • Able to complete a one-year research project which can occur at any time during fellowship (i.e. flexibility exists as to what year of fellowship the project starts)
  • Submit an abstract of their work for a future PAS Meeting

Application Requirements

Applicant’s Personal Information

Short Bio

Blinded and Unblinded Descriptions of:

  • Area of Expertise: 2-3 sentences
  • Research Accomplishments: 150 words max.
  • Career Goals and Objectives: 150 words max.
  • Specific Aim of Current Research: 450 words max.
  • Why is external mentoring important and in what areas: 150 words max.


Blinded and Unblinded Applicant’s NIH Biosketch

List of Past and Current Mentors

  • Include name and title
  • Include institution and project title/description


List of Mentors who you think would be appropriate mentors (at any institution):

  • Include name and title
  • Include institution and rationale of why this mentor would be a good mentor for applicant


Letter of Support from Division Head or Department Chair addressing how external mentoring provided by this program would be beneficial.

Selection Criteria

  • Commitment of candidate to pediatric research-oriented career
  • Potential for candidate to succeed as an academic investigator
  • Availability of adequate mentoring at candidate’s institution
  • Benefit provided to candidate by mentoring and support by award 
SubMit a Nomination

Current Recipients

Dr. Shannon Adams-Hartung is a first-year fellow in the Division of Neonatology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, she attended college at Duke University where she graduated cum laude, double majoring in History and Global Health. She then went on to receive her medical degree from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University before completing her residency in pediatrics at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University/Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Shannon’s academic interests lie at the intersection of neonatology and medical ethics, including topics in maternal-fetal management, neonatal end-of life decision making, prenatal counseling in the case of extreme prematurity or congenital anomaly, and health equity. As a medical student, she conducted research looking at parent and physician interpretations of quality of life for neonatal patients through the Scholarly Concentration in Medical Humanities and Ethics at Brown, and was later selected to participate in the interdisciplinary Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE). She continued her work in residency where she completed the McGaw Bioethics Scholars Program at Northwestern and engaged in research and writing related to the use of DNR orders in the NICU, abortion and perinatal palliative care provision in the wake of the Dobbs decision, and institutional culture on the topic of periviability. She is currently launching a multi-center mixed-methods study building on her previous ethical cultures work.

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Shannon Adams-Hartung, MD

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Evan is a first-generation American, shaped by a rich cross-cultural upbringing. His parents, who immigrated from opposite sides of the world, blended their cultures and instilled in him a deep pride in his identity as both Hispanic and Indian-American.

Evan completed his undergraduate and medical education at the University of Virginia (UVA), where his passion for immunology blossomed as he investigated the impact of allergic asthma on the innate immune response to rhinovirus. Staying at UVA for pediatric residency, he was drawn to the spectrum and complexity of diseases treated in nephrology. He chose to specialize in nephrology for the way it combines features of immunology and rheumatology with critical care physiology, while allowing for long-term patient relationships—one of his favorite aspects of pediatric medicine.

Now in his second year of pediatric nephrology fellowship at Indiana University, Evan continues to explore how immune responses can become maladaptive and cause harm. Through his T32 in clinical pharmacology, he has utilized single cell transcriptomics, developing a keen interest in applying gene expression and pathway analyses to pediatric nephrology research. The PROSPER award has significantly supported his project, which investigates the effect of Vitamin D deficiency on the immune response to pyelonephritis within the unique cellular microenvironment of the kidney, building on his previous research experiences.

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Evan Rajadhyaksha, MD

Indiana University School of Medicine

  • 2024 | Paula Dias Maia, MD, University of Colorado
  • 2024 | Srishti Jayakumar, MD, MPH, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
  • 2023 | Kaitlin Hall, MD, MPH, University of California, Los Angeles
  • 2023 | Kim Vuong, MD, MPH, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital
  • 2022 | Kasee Houston, MD, MPP, University of California, Los Angeles
  • 2022 | Danitza Nebor, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
  • 2021 | Kayla Karvonen, MD, University of California San Francisco
  • 2021 | Esther Kibakaya, MD, MS, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore of Albert Einstein College of Medicine