Nine early-career Yale physician-scientists have received prestigious awards given by the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). ASCI, which was founded in 1908, is one of the nation’s oldest medical honor societies and one of the few organizations that are focused on the special role of physician-scientists, who have a unique and valuable perspective that comes both from treating patients and from conducting medical research. Often, their research serves the needs of the patients they treat.
The recognition of so many of our early-career physician-scientists, who account for 10% of total awards, reflects not only the success of their individual research programs, but also of our institutional commitment to mentorship and sponsorship.
Keith Choate, MD
“ASCI is the premier physician-scientist medical honor society,” says Keith Choate, MD, associate dean for physician-scientist development, chair and Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor of Dermatology, and professor of genetics and of pathology. “The recognition of so many of our early-career physician-scientists, who account for 10% of total awards, reflects not only the success of their individual research programs, but also of our institutional commitment to mentorship and sponsorship. Behind each of these awardees are mentors, departments, and programs who are ensuring that they have the resources needed to launch independent research programs.”
The awards are divided into two categories. Young Physician-Scientist Awards (YPSA) recognize physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointments and have made notable achievements in their research. Emerging Generation Awards (E-Gen Awards) recognize post-MD, pre-faculty-appointment physician-scientists who are meaningfully engaged in immersive research.
Of the 52 newly announced Young Physician-Scientist Awards, four have gone to Yale faculty:
Youngsun Cho, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Yale Child Study Center and Department of Psychiatry, is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist whose research focuses on the development of cognitive and motivational brain circuits in adolescents with depression and patients with schizophrenia. Cho is excited to build her career as a physician-scientist who uses research and clinical care to improve the lives of those with psychiatric illness.
Jeffrey Ishizuka, MD, DPhil, assistant professor of immunobiology, of medical oncology, and of pathology, treats melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma patients. His laboratory studies the tumor-immune microenvironment and seeks to uncover novel approaches by which inflammation can be manipulated to improve cancer immunotherapies.
Alicia Little, MD, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology, is a board-certified dermatologist and immunologist specializing in the study and care of patients with autoimmune skin diseases that disproportionately affect women. Her main research interests involve understanding T cells in cutaneous lupus and vulvar lichen sclerosus disease pathogenesis.
Changwan "Wonnie" Ryu, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pulmonary, critical care & sleep medicine, focuses his research on the study of extracellular mitochondrial DNA as a biomarker for survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and on the pathogenic mechanisms by which mitochondrial DNA contributes to disease pathology in interstitial lung disease.
Emerging Generation Awards recognize post-MD, pre-faculty-appointment physician-scientists who are meaningfully engaged in immersive research. This year, ASCI has recognized 33 rising stars with this award, including five from Yale:
Jeffrey Cohen, MD, assistant professor of dermatology and of bioinformatics & data science, primarily focuses in the clinic on the treatment of patients with inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis and eczema with biologic and oral small molecule therapies. Cohen’s research efforts relate to inflammatory skin disease, with a concentration on epidemiology and health services research.
Lisa L. Korn, MD, PhD, instructor of medicine (rheumatology, allergy & immunology), is a rheumatologist physician-scientist and instructor in medicine. She is interested in better understanding environmental triggers of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and how these triggers might act through the gut.
Yang Jae Lee, MD, is a psychiatry resident in the Neuroscience Research Training Program (NRTP). His two principal research aims are diminishing the stigma associated with mental illness, and cultivating robust systems of care through working with existing community structures to provide effective mental health care in rural areas of low-income countries.
Makoto Mori, MD, PhD, integrated cardiothoracic surgery resident, is primarily interested in improving the post-acute phase of care after patients undergo cardiac surgery from three perspectives: health services utilization and policies concerning postoperative recovery; measuring, characterizing, and predicting individual patient recovery trajectory; and conducting trials to test interventions targeted to improve postoperative recovery.
Evangelos Oikonomou, MD, DPhil, clinical fellow in cardiovascular medicine, focuses on the intersection of statistical machine learning, computer vision, and clinical trials, with a specific focus on developing tools for the improved phenotyping of cardiovascular disease using scalable approaches that can be deployed at minimal cost using existing care pathways.
In December ASCI, which is dedicated to the advancement of research that extends the understanding of diseases and improves treatment, and whose members are committed to mentoring future generations of physician-scientists, announced the election of three Yale faculty as society members. They are E. Jennifer Edelman, MD, MHS, AAHIVS, professor of medicine (general medicine); Madhav Menon, MD, associate professor of medicine (nephrology); and F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE, associate professor of medicine (nephrology) and of public health (chronic disease epidemiology). There are now 61 Yale members of ASCI.