Person holding an award certificate and a sign reading “SPR Awardee” in front of a backdrop with repeated Society for Pediatric Research logos at a Pediatric Academic Societies 2022 meeting.

Fellows’ Basic Research Awards

The Fellows’ Basic Research Awards are presented annually by the Society for Pediatric Research® (SPR) to honor fellows engaged in pediatric basic research. This award encourages pediatricians-in-training to pursue careers in academic pediatrics.

Recipients are selected based on the quality of work in basic research, as presented in abstracts submitted to the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting.

Awards

Five recipients are selected annually:
Two Basic Research Awards
One David G. Nathan Award
Two Basic Research Awards, sponsored by the SPR Emerging to Established (E2E) Section

All award recipients are chosen from the general category of SPR Fellows’ Basic Research Awards applications.

Group of five individuals standing in front of a backdrop with repeated Society for Pediatric Research logos; one person holds an award certificate and a sign reading “SPR Awardee,” while others wear conference badges and lanyards.

Fellows’ Basic Research Award

Eligibility Criteria

Be a fellow-in-training (PhD post-doctoral fellows do not qualify)
Submit and present the abstract during the PAS Meeting prior to the completion of fellowship
Complete the online application form and submit their abstract and supplemental materials by the abstract submission deadline
The applicants need to describe their contribution to the project when asked to provide “brief description of the work performed”
The abstract must be basic research
First authorship on an abstract submitted to the PAS Meeting; the abstract must be accepted for presentation at the upcoming PAS Meeting to be considered
The recipient must present the study at the PAS Meeting

Applications that do not meet the conditions stated above will not be considered for the awards. The accuracy of your abstract and application is the applicants’ responsibility. Please proofread carefully before submitting. After submission, no corrections will be permitted. By submitting, you approve the accuracy of your abstract and application.

Current Recipients

Congenital infections affect millions of pregnancies worldwide, yet we lack a mechanistic understanding of how viruses disrupt placental function. CMV infects 1 in 200 births, causing lifelong disabilities in 20% of affected children, while LCMV causes severe neurologic impairment, including hydrocephalus and chorioretinitis. In addition to its immune function, the placenta requires precise metabolic regulation to maintain maternal and fetal health. Preliminary evidence suggests that dysregulated metabolic pathways impact placental pathology. The overall goal of this project is to elucidate how congenital viral infections mediate metabolic dysfunction in third-trimester human placentas. We hypothesize that infection disrupts placental metabolism in a cell type, spatial, and temporally specific manner that drives placental pathology.

Abin Abraham, MD PhD

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

I am a third-year Neonatal–Perinatal Medicine fellow at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Jackson Health System. My research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of hyperoxia-induced organ injury in preterm neonates, with an emphasis on inflammasome-mediated pathways. Under the mentorship of Dr. Shu Wu, I initially investigated inflammasome activation in hyperoxia-induced lung injury, where I established the role of apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)-like pathology in a neonatal hyperoxia mouse model. I also demonstrated the therapeutic potential of IC100, a humanized anti-ASC monoclonal antibody, in mitigating hyperoxia-related BPD-like injury. Building on this work, I expanded my research to examine the impact of ASC-mediated inflammasome activation on the developing brain.

Person in a white lab coat standing against a plain gray background.

Noor Mehandi, MD

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

2025 | Noor Mehandi, MD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2025 | Anusha Mopuri, MBBS, MD, UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, OH
2024 | Betty Pham, MD, MS, UC San Diego/Rady Children’s of San Diego, CA
2024 | Michael Smith, MD, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2024 | Jingshing Wu, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2023 | Aaron Bodansky, MD, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
2023 | Naomi Pode-Shakked, MD, PhD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2022 | Naga Venkata Divya Challa, University of Miami, Miami, FL
2022 | Buyan-Ochir Orgil, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN
2022 | Nneka Ugwu, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, PA
2021 | Jo Duara, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
2021 | Ahmed Elsaie, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2021 | Anam Amin Mendha, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2020 | Amelia Freeman, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
2020 | Oluwabunmi Olaloye, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
2020 | Matthew Douglass, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
2019 | Anum Ali, University of Miami, Miami, FL
2019 | Scott Gordon, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2019 | Kent Willis, MD, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN
2018 | Abbie Bauer, University of Washington
2018 | Steven J. Jonas, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
2018 | Kathleen Schwabenbauer, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
2017 | Keyur Donda, University of Miami Miller SOM, Miami, FL
2017 | Mohan Kumar Krishnan, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
2017 | Laurel Truscott, UCLA
2016 | Keri A. Drake, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2016 | Jennifer Sucre, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
2016 | Emir Tas, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA
2015 | David B. Frank, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2015 | Kok Lim Kua, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
2015 | Oded Volovelsky, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2014 | Rebecca Johnson, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2014 | Aparna Patra, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
2014 | David P. Sparling, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY
2013 | Charitharth Vivek Lal, University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
2013 | Shelley Drummond, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2012 | Claire Bocchini, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2012 | Shaowei Chen, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA
2012 | Durga Singer, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2011 | Molly K. Ball, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL
2011 | Levi Funches, Jr., Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
2011 | Anne-Cecile Huby, Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2010 | Thomas D. Arnold, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2010 | Julie Mirpuri, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
2010 | Francheyska Silfa Mazara, Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Ctr, Boston, MA
2009 | Jennifer R. Desireddi, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
2009 | Sallie R. Permar, Children’s Hospital Boston / Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2009 | Laurie Steiner, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2008 | Alan Kenny, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2008 | Margaret Moriarty, University of Colorado at Denver HSC, Aurora, CO
2008 | Keiji Tanigaki, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Houston, TX
2007 | John T. Benjamin, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
2007 | Darren Bridgewater, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
2007 | Lily Chao, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
2006 | Camille Fung, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
2006 | Michael Hunter, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
2006 | Enkhsaikhan Purevjav, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2005 | Ophir Klein, University of California, San Francisco
2005 | Kartik Krishnan, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
2005 | Mousumi Moulik, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2004 | Kurt J. Griffin, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD
2004 | Kimihiko Oishi, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
2004 | Lawrence M. Rhein, Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
2003 | Gina-Marie Barletta, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2003 | Christina M. Coughlin, Univ. of PA, Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
2003 | David Motto, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2002 | Yair Anikster, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD
2002 | David G. Soergel, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
2002 | Marco Tartaglia, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
2001 | Patrick D. Brophy, Mott Children’s Hospital/University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2001 | So Young Lee, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA
2001 | Lawrence S. Prince, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA
2000 | Christopher E. Belcher, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2000 | Elif Erkan, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY
2000 | Syed Zaidi, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
1999 | Vernat J. Exil, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
1999 | Laura Haneline, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
1999 | Gerardo Jimenez-Sanchez, Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
1998 | Kathleen S. Crowley, Wake Forest Univ. School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
1998 | John A. Martignetti, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
1997 | John M. Dagle, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
1997 | Edna E. Mancilla, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
1997 | Hideki Nishimura, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN
1996 | Peter N. Bowers, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
1996 | Cheryl Gale, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
1996 | Tao Wang, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
1995 | Lilly Cheng Immergluck, University of Chicago, Wyler Children’s Hospital, Chicago, IL
1995 | Fumio Niimura, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
1995 | Deepak Srivastava, Anderson Cancer Center, Dallas, TX
1994 | Micahel Apkon, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1994 | Mukund G. Dole, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI
1994 | Christaine Theda, Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
1993 | Michael Cappello, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
1993 | Steven A.Dekowski, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
1993 | D. Dunbar Ivy, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO
1992 | Prasad Devarajan, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1992 | Han-Wook Yoo, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
1991 | Catherine M. Bendel, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
1991 | Charmian A. Quigley, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
1991 | Lisa A. Schimmenti, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

David G. Nathan Award in Basic Research

Established in 2000 by colleagues, trainees, and friends of Dr. David G. Nathan, the David G. Nathan Award in Basic Research honors his achievements in every aspect of academic pediatrics. The recipient is selected among the SPR Fellows’ Basic Research Award applicants whose abstract has been accepted for a platform session.

This award must be applied for at the time of PAS abstract submission.

Eligibility Criteria

Be a fellow-in-training (PhD post-doctoral fellows do not qualify)
Submit and present the abstract during the PAS Meeting prior to the completion of fellowship
Complete the online application form and submit their abstract and supplemental materials by the abstract submission deadline
The applicant needs to describe their contribution to the project when asked to provide “brief description of the work performed”
The abstract must be basic research
First authorship on an abstract submitted to the PAS Meeting; the abstract must be accepted for presentation at the upcoming PAS Meeting to be considered
The recipient must present the study at the upcoming PAS Meeting

Applications that do not meet the conditions stated above will not be considered for the awards. The accuracy of your abstract and application is the applicants’ responsibility. Please proofread carefully before submitting. After submission, no corrections will be permitted. By submitting, you approve the accuracy of your abstract and application.

Current Recipient

Dr. Jonathan Knowlton is a pediatrician, neonatologist, and physician-scientist whose research is focused on the lasting consequences of severe respiratory infections in early life. He completed both medical school and graduate school at Vanderbilt University, where he pursued his PhD training in the laboratory of Dr. Terry Dermody studying the cell biology of viral infections.

Jonathan Knowlton, MD, PhD

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

2025 | Benjamin Fensterheim, MD, PhD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2024 | Rameshwar Rao, MD, PhD, University of California, Davis
2023 | Ellen Schill, MD PhD, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2022 | Amanda J. Clark, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX
2021 | Snehashis Hazra, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
2020 | Hua Sun, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2019 | Viral Jain, MD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH
2018 | Julie Nogee, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
2017 | Laura Jackson, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburg, PA
2016 | Shawndip K. Sen, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
2015 | Jason Boehme, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2014 | Elizabeth C. Swanson, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN
2013 | Sujana S. Gunta, University of California, San Diego, CA
2012 | Grzegorz Nalepa, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
2011 | Misty Lynn Good, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA
2010 | Ulrike Mietzsch, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX
2009 | No Award Given
2008 | Johannes Zakrzewski, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY, NY
2007 | Kristina A. Cole, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
2006 | Su Young Kim, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
2005 | Mwe Mwe Chao, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2004 | Benjamin S. Braun, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2003 | Marco Tartaglia, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
2002 | Valerie I. Brown, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2001 | Jenny M. Kim, Abramson Research Center, Philadelphia, PA
2000 | Lisa Wang, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

SPR Basic Research Awards for Fellows, sponsored by the SPR Emerging to Established (E2E) Section

Established in 2013, the SPR Basic Research Awards for Fellows, sponsored by the SPR Emerging to Established (E2E) Section, recognizes outstanding basic research conducted by fellows. The recipient is selected among the SPR Fellows’ Basic Research Award applicants. Candidates must be a member of the SPR E2E Section.

This award must be applied for at the time of PAS abstract submission.

Eligibility Criteria

Be a SPR Emerging to Established (E2E) Section Member
Be a fellow-in-training (PhD post-doctoral fellows do not qualify)
Submit and present the abstract during the PAS Meeting prior to the completion of fellowship
Complete the online application form and submit their abstract and supplemental materials by the abstract submission deadline
The applicants need to describe their contribution to the project when asked to provide “brief description of the work performed”
The abstract must be basic research
First authorship on an abstract submitted to the PAS Meeting; the abstract must be accepted for presentation at the upcoming PAS Meeting to be considered
The recipient must present the study at the PAS Meeting

Applications that do not meet the conditions stated above will not be considered for the awards. The accuracy of your abstract and application is the applicants’ responsibility. Please proofread carefully before submitting. After submission, no corrections will be permitted. By submitting, you approve the accuracy of your abstract and application.

Current Recipients

This project investigated how developmental differences between adult and neonatal platelets influence the inflammatory responses of neonatal monocytes. Platelet transfusions are commonly used in thrombocytopenic preterm neonates and findings from the PLaNET-2 trial showed that higher transfusion thresholds are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Given that platelets play a key role in immune regulation, we sought to compare the inflammatory responses of neonatal moncotyes co-cultured with activated adult or neonatal platelets. To do this, platelets and monocytes were isolated from healthy adult blood and fullterm cord blood. Platelets were activated with thrombin. Activated adult blood and cord blood platelets were then co-cultured with cord blood monocytes. The monocyte migratory phenotype (CCR2 and CCR5 surface expression) was evaluated after 4hours of co-culture by flow cytometry and monocyte derived cytokines (IL-8 and MCP-1) were quantified after 18 hours in culture supernatants by ELISA. We found that platelets from either developmental stage induce similar IL-8 and MCP-1 production from neonatal monocytes. However, neonatal monocytes cultured with activated adult blood platelets exhibited higher surface expression levels of CCR2 and CCR5, indicative of a stronger promigratory phenotype, which could enhance monocyte migration in response to MCP-1 or RANTES and potentially worsen tissue inflammation and contribute to the increased morbidity and mortality associated with platelet transfusions in neonates.

Fellows-Basic-by E2E_Banfield, Kimberley_Photo

Kimberley Banfield, MBBS

Boston Children’s Hospital

Dr. Ioanna Kotsopoulou is a physician-scientist in the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She graduated from the University of Athens Medical School and completed postdoctoral training under Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos, where she investigated mechanisms of hypoxia- and hyperoxia-induced brain injury, followed by pediatric residency at the University of Texas Southwestern. Her work is driven by her commitment to advancing long-term cardiorespiratory health in preterm and vulnerable infants.

Fellows-Basic-by E2E_Kotsopoulou_ Ioanna_Photo

Ioanna Kotsopoulou, MD

Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

2025 | Kelly Orgel, MD, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
2025 | Jeremy Sandgren, MD, PhD, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
2024 | Michael Cookson, MD, MHS, Children’s Hospital Colorado & University of Colorado, Aurora, CO
2024 | Gabriel Devlin, MD/CM, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, CA
2024 | Nikita Kalluri, MD, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
2024 | Jeremy Sandgren, MD, PhD, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
2023 | James Nugent, MD, MPH, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
2023 | Rameshwar (Ram) Rao, MD PhD, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2023 | Kevin G. Williams, MD, FAAP, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2023 | Mattie Wolf, MD, Emory University School of Medicine/Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
2022 | Leslie Doucette, MD, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD
2022 | Thu Tran, DO, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX
2022 | Mausma Bawa, MD, Jacobs School of Medicine, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
2022 | Elizabeth Salazar, MD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2021 | Senthil Velan Bhoopalan, MBBS, PhD, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
2021 | Josef Newman, MD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2021 | Vivek Shukla, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
2021 | Mausma Bawa, MD, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
2020 | Lila Nolan, MD, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
2020 | Vivek V. Shukla, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
2020 | Cara Slagle, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2020 | Christopher Thom, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2019 | Jason M. Nagata, MD MSc, UCSF, San Francisco, CA
2019 | Fotios Spyropoulos, MD, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
2019 | Michelle Starr, MD, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
2019 | Elizabeth Taglauer, MD PhD, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2018 | Fredrick Dapaah-Siakwan, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
2018 | Jennifer Davidson, UTHSC
2018 | Andrew Franklin, Northwestern University/Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital
2018 | David Neil Matlock, Jr., University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
2017 | Colm R. Breatnach, The Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
2017 | Steven L. Ford, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX
2017 | Geoffrey A. Preidis, Baylor College of Medicine & Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX
2017 | Aaron Jeffrey T. Yee, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL
2016 | Petter Bjornstad, Children’s Hospital Colorado and Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Aurora, CO
2016 | Shanlee Davis, Children’s Hospital Colorado/University of Colorado, Aurora, CO
2016 | Ashley L. Steed, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
2016 | Allison E. Zanno, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2015 | Prem Fort, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
2015 | Laura Madore, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA
2015 | Pratik Parikh, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
2015 | Annette Scheid, Floating Hospital for Children, Floating Hospital for Children, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA
2014 | Vishnu Priya Akula, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA
2014 | Hitesh Deshmukh, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
2014 | Birju A. Shah, Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
2014 | Daniel T. Swarr, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2013 | Danielle E. Soranno, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2013 | Peter M. Wolfgram, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison, WI