Person wearing a red dress and conference lanyard holding a sign that reads “SPR Awardee” in front of a backdrop with repeated Society for Pediatric Research logos at a Pediatric Academic Societies 2022 meeting.

Student Research Awards

The Student Research Award are presented annually by the Society for Pediatric Research® (SPR) to honor exceptional research conducted by students at various educational stages. This award encourages pediatricians-in-training to pursue careers in academic pediatrics. Recipients are selected based on the quality of work presented in abstracts submitted to the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting.

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

Award

Three to six recipients are selected annually
One to two recipients will be chosen from each of the following categories:
MD/PhD and PhD Students
Medical Students
High School and College Students
Recipients will present their research at the PAS Meeting

Eligibility Criteria

MD/PhD and PhD Students: Student must submit and present abstract prior to the student receiving his/her MD/PhD or PhD degree
Medical Students: Student must submit and present abstract prior to the student receiving his/her MD degree
High School and College Students: Student must submit and present abstract prior to the student receiving his/her BS/BA degree
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”
First authorship on an abstract submitted to the PAS Meeting; the abstract must be accepted for presentation at the 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 the 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

Grace Kromm is an MD candidate at Harvard Medical School (Class of 2028) and a PhD-trained neuroscientist working in the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children’s Hospital under the mentorship of Carol Wilkinson, MD, PhD. Grace completed her PhD in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge (Class of 2024) and earned her BA in Chemistry and Psychology with Highest Honors in Neuroscience from Williams College (Class of 2020).

Grace Kromm, PhD

Harvard Medical School

Saranya Menon is a third-year medical student at the UIC College of Medicine in Chicago. She has been working with her mentor Dr. Jennifer Hoffmann at Lurie Children’s Hospital on a retrospective cross-sectional database project seeking to examine the various sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with high frequency Emergency Department use by children for mental health conditions. Data was extracted from the 2023-2024 Pediatric Hospital Information Systems database. Saranya’s goals include pursuing a medical career at the intersection of pediatrics and child psychiatry, better elucidating factors relevant to public health and useful for evidence-based community intervention.

Saranya Menon, BS

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine

I am an MD/PhD student at the University of Cincinnati, pursuing a PhD in Neuroscience under the guidance of Nehal A. Parikh, DO, MS within the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Prevention Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. I plan to pursue a career in academic Child Neurology, and remain passionate about caring for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and advancing knowledge in the field.

Student-MD-PhD_Batschelett, Mitchell_Photo

Mitchell Batschelett

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center & University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on the role of the early-life gut microbiome in shaping neurodevelopment, with a particular emphasis on infants born preterm.

Aisling Kenny

University of Edinburgh

I am a senior at Great Neck North Highschool, 17 years old, and have done research with Northwell children’s medical center as an intern.

Talya Bagim

University of Washington

I am a Master of Public Health student at the University of Miami, specializing in neonatal and perinatal research. Under the mentorship of Dr. Karen Young, my work focuses on the molecular mechanisms of cardiopulmonary injury in preterm infants. This research direction was inspired by my previous work at the University of Oxford examining maternal minority health disparities, which sparked my interest in understanding how early-life exposures influence long-term health outcomes.

Ashleigh Pyke, BS, Biology; MPH Candidate

Batchelor Children’s Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

2025 | Marwa Ramsie, BSc, University of Alberta, Alberta, CA
2025 | Paige Riddington, BSc (Hons), Monash University, The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, AU
2025 | Sydne Ballengee, BS, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2025 | Carolyn Cafro, BS, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
2025 | Kate DiNucci, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
2025 | Shalini Indugula, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2024 | Joseph DelFerro, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
2024 | Mahira Hassan, University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, CA
2024 | Genevieve McCormack, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
2024 | Philippa Rees, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London
2024 | Daphne Yu, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2024 | Lindsay Zhou, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Canada
2023 | Talita Choudhury, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH
2023 | Sarah Ann Duck, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
2023 | Kate Lawler, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2023 | Saeid Maghsoudi, PhD Student, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
2023 | Holly Shifman, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, MI
2023 | Samir Siddiqui, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2022 | Robert D’Cruz, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
2022 | Kathryn Farrell, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2022 | Emilie Groulx-Boivin, Montreal Children’s Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
2022 | Sarah (Sadie) Meller, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
2022 | Holly Shifman, Oakland University, William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
2022 | Celia Yu, The Lundquist Institute, University of California, San Diego, CA
2021 | Michelle Asbury, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2021 | Abrielle Dillon, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
2021 | Scott Herrod, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
2021 | Yvonne Lei, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California Los Angeles
2021 | Evdoxia Valavani, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
2021 | Andrew Yeung, University of California Davis (UC Davis), Sacramento, CA
2020 | Sarah Abdullah, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
2020 | Bella Ehrlich, Brown University, Providence, RI
2020 | Charlotte Getty, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC
2020 | Dylan M. Hyatt, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2020 | Eli Louwagie, University of South Dakota – Sanford School of Medicine, Sioux Falls, SD
2020 | Shelley Vanderhout, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
2019 | Barbara Dietrick, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
2019 | Anna Kuznetsova, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Bellmore, NY
2019 | Sarah Meller, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
2019 | Faustine Ramirez, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2019 | Jenny Sun, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA
2019 | Celia Yu, Los Angeles BioMedical Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA
2018 | Sietske Annette Berghuis, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
2018 | Hannah Itell, Duke Human Vaccine Institute
2018 | Sydney Rooney, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
2018 | Rachel Shenoi, University of Houston
2018 | Jessica E. Thomson, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne Australia
2018 | Jennifer D. Varner, Duke University School of Medicine
2017 | Adriel Barrios-Anderson, Brown University, Providence, RI
2017 | Morgan Firestein, Columbia University, NY
2017 | Kayla Furlong, SickKids Research Institute, Toronto, Canada
2017 | Marie-Elssa Morency, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2017 | Akosua Oppong, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
2017 | Shiffa Shahid, Kings’ College London, UK
2016 | Jessica L. Chow, UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, San Francisco, CA
2016 | Samantha J. Gridley, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN
2016 | Olivia B. Parks, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh / University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
2016 | C. T. Roberts, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
2016 | Prateek Sahni, Columbia University, New York, NY
2016 | Shelley M. Vanderhout, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2015 | Emily Callan, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
2015 | Joanne B. Cole, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
2015 | Julia Kristin Hummler, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2015 | Kristin Keunen, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
2015 | Eli J. Louwagie, Sanford Health Research Center, Sioux Falls, SD
2015 | Stephen T. Owen,Clemson University, Charlottesville, VA
2014 | Rebecca Currier, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2014 | Willemina Foppen, Boston Children’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2014 | Andrew J. Greubel, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
2014 | Kelsey Lee, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2014 | Blair T. Stocks, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2014 | Marie Strobl, Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
2013 | Alexandra Bailin, Princeton University, New Jersey
2013 | Maarten O. Blanken, University Medical Center Ultrecht, The Netherlands
2013 | Stefanie C. Hummler, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL
2013 | Valerie Sung, The University of Melbourne, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
2013 | Brittan S. Sutphin, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
2013 | Martin Vonau, Ohio State University College of Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH
2012 | Kristyn Dunlop, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
2012 | Eriberto Michel, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA
2012 | Sana Mujahid, Tufts University, Boston, MA
2012 | Jeffrey J. Pituch, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2012 | Chris Stockmann, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, UT
2012 | Nicole R. van Veenendaal, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2011 | Emily A. Lich, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
2011 | Christopher J.D. McKinlay, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand
2011 | Meghan Prin, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ
2011 | Sandra Suarez, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
2011 | Dylan Thomas, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
2011 | Hester Vlaardingerbroek, Erasmus MC- Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2010 | Fadeke Agboke, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
2010 | Olivier Avoine, Sherbrooke University, Quebec, Canada
2010 | Alec Barlow, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
2010 | Rachael Grodick, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY
2010 | Cali Johnson, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2010 | Niroop Kaza, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL
2009 | Nicholas E. Armstrong, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, OKC, OK
2009 | Amal P. Fernando, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
2009 | Cynthia X. He, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
2009 | Jean-Sebastien Joyal, Research Center of CHU Ste-Justine, Montreal, Canada
2009 | Jinny J. Kim, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
2009 | Jessica L. Slutzky, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH
2008 | Lindsay Dancy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
2008 | Geoffrey Liu, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
2008 | Juma s. Mbwana, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
2008 | Peter J. Simon, Columbia University, NY, NY
2008 | Erik S. Carlson, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2008 | Andrew McDaniel, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
2007 | Disha Kumar, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2007 | Ching Zhu, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
2007 | Kevin Downes, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2007 | In-Kyong Kim, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
2007 | Ching-Feng Huang, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2007 | Akihiro Asai, Shriners Burns Hospital, Boston, MA
2006 | Silvia Gonzaga, Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
2006 | Suzanne Schubbert, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2006 | Karin Batalden, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN
2006 | Allison Blatz,Case Western Reserve University/Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, OH
2006 | Mya Sendwski, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2005 | Tianhong Xu, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2005 | Virginia Bartleson, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN
2005 | Christopher Lundh, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
2005 | Christina O. Chen, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2005 | Kusala M. Jayasuriya, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2004 | Wayne A. Cabral, National Institute of Health, Bethesda
2004 | Victoria Del Gaizo Moore, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem
2004 | Jiuann-Huey I. Lin, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
2003 | Lyric Jorgenson, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
2003 | Liza Konnikova, Tufts University, Boston
2003 | Sharareh Movafagh, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington DC
2002 | Seth Goldbarg, University of California, San Francisco
2002 | Jessica Marks, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans
2002 | Jeremy Warner, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC
2001 | Johan Löfgren, Oulu University, Oulu, Finland
2001 | Roy O. Mathew, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
2001 | Mai T. Phung, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
2000 | Kyle Cowan, University of Toronto, Toronto
2000 | Aaron M. Milstone, Yale University, New Haven
2000 | Christine Siambani, University of Toronto, Toronto
1999 | Tim C. Lee, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston
1999 | Gresham Richter, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver
1999 | Lucy Ruwitch, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford
1998 | Biree Andemariam, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven
1998 | Laura Frain, University of Chicago, Chicago
1998 | Maureen Su, Children’s Hospital, Boston
1997 | Blaise A. Nemeth, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, St. Louis
1997 | Erica Weiss, University of California, San Francisco
1997 | Masato Yasui, St. Goran’s Children’s Hospital, Stockholm
1996 | Rosemarie Fernandez, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1996 | Kevin McCabe, University of California, Los Angeles
1996 | Xin Zeng, Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati
1995 | Jacquelyn Huffman, Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
1995 | Weiwen Guo, University of California, Los Angeles
1995 | W. Xu, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
1994 | Robert J. Bohinski, Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
1994 | Javier Chinen, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
1994 | Kelly A. McGowan, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
1993 | John P. Cannon, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
1993 | Laura L. Ciottone, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester
1993 | Jennifer Norton, University of Western Ontario, Toronto
1992 | Richard C. Allen, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
1992 | Dan Lee, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
1992 | Kenneth W. Liechty, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
1991 | Diane K. Vorbroker, Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati
1991 | Kyunglim L. Yoon, Tufts University, Boston
1990 | R. Jumar Kadiyala, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford
1990 | Robert C. Scott, III, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
1989 | Scott Saunders, Stanford University Hospital, Stanford