YSM News and Recognition

Sanja Dacic, MD, PhD, has been appointed vice chair and director of anatomic pathology in the Department of Pathology. Dacic, who is now professor of pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, will begin at Yale on May 1. Her research focuses on diagnostic pulmonary and molecular pathology and the development of prognostic biomarkers. She is a key leader of impactful basic and translational research projects in lung cancer and pleural mesotheliomas, which have resulted in hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles, practice guidelines, book chapters, and reviews.

Research led by Ellen F. Foxman, MD, PhD, assistant professor of laboratory medicine and of immunobiology, is one of 10 articles in the Journal of Experimental Medicine's annual Year in Experimental Medicine collection, research articles published in 2021 that were of greatest interest to the journal's readers. The article that the journal cites is "Dynamic innate immunity in SARS-CoV-2 infection."

LaShae Nicholson, PhD (left), and Rafael Perez, PhD, have been selected to receive the Kavli Postdoctoral Award for Academic Diversity. The award supports exceptional scholars who bring a diversity of perspectives, identities, and backgrounds to academic research, including those from groups that are historically underrepresented in the sciences. Nicholson is a member of the Stephen Strittmatter lab, and Perez is a member of the Marina Picciotto lab.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) has awarded a five-year grant to Carolyn Sartor, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry. The title of the grant is, "Cultural and Environmental Influences on Precursors to and Early Stages of Alcohol, Nicotine, and Cannabis Use in Black and Latinx Youth."

Hongying (Hoy) Shen, PhD, assistant professor of cellular and molecular physiology, has received a Trailblazer Award from the 1907 Foundation, which supports pioneering early-career investigators in search of the causes and cures of mental illness. Shen studies cellular metabolism, cell biology, and metabolomics to characterize “orphan” metabolic enzymes and transporters encoded in the human genome, with hopes that her lab's findings will enable novel metabolic approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of a range of psychiatric conditions.

Two biostatistics students were chosen as recipients of the Dr. Colin White Memorial Scholarship. Chichun Tan, MS ’22 (left), and Yi Dai, MPH ’22, are both second-year master's degree candidates in biostatistics. White (1913-2011), for whom the scholarship is named, was chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. “We look for model students who have done very well in coursework and research,” said Professor Shuangge (Steven) Ma, interim chair of the Department of Biostatistics.