Lu and Aklilu Honored With 2025 Dostanic Award

The 2025 Iva Dostanic, MD, PhD, Physician-Scientist Trainee Award of The Department of Internal Medicine was presented to two recipients: Benjamin Y. Lu, MD, PhD, of Medical Oncology and Hematology, and Abinet M. Aklilu, MD, MPH, of Nephrology on June 26, 2025.

Benjamin Y. Lu, MD, PhD, instructor of medicine (medical oncology and hematology), who came to Yale in 2016 for residency, remembers sitting in the audience of the Dostanic lecture during his intern year.

“I’ve always found it very inspiring to hear Iva’s story while also learning about the amazing work of my peers. Through the years, many people I’ve looked up to have stood at the podium presenting their research,” Lu said.

Lu was co-nominated by mentors David A. Hafler, MD, William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology and professor of immunobiology, and Harriet Kluger, MD, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Medicine (Oncology) and of Dermatology.

As a cancer immunologist, Lu seeks to understand how the immune system interacts with cancers. With the broad adoption of cancer immunotherapy over the last decade, Lu was amazed by the potential effectiveness and durability of these therapies, even in patients with advanced and difficult-to-treat cancers. According to Lu, only a minority of patients are able to benefit, motivating his work alongside principal investigators Hafler and Kluger to understand the fundamental determinants of clinical outcomes.

Using cutting-edge, high-resolution profiling techniques, Lu made an unexpected discovery. “We found a type of CD8 T cell which seems to play a regulatory role in the tumor. This means it impairs or keeps the immune system in check–not what you want your immune system doing in cancer,” said Lu. Patients with more of these cells do worse overall, regardless of whether they receive checkpoint therapy.

“Investigating how KIR CD8 T cells dampen our immune response, we found that they kill productive T cells that are responding to the tumor. A similar response has been shown in COVID and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis or inflammatory bowel disease, where these T cells dampen inflammatory responses. In the case of cancer, they're inhibiting our body’s ability to kill off cancer cells,” said Lu.

The next steps are to determine if the protein is a marker, whether it can be targeted with therapy, and, if so, which patients would benefit from therapy.

Lu opened his own laboratory at the beginning of July, and his research will focus on cancer immunity in the brain.

Abinet M. Aklilu, MD, MPH, instructor of medicine (nephrology), completed a clinical nephrology fellowship, a master’s degree in public health, and a research fellowship at Yale.

Aklilu was not only surprised, but humbled when she learned she had been selected as an award recipient. F. Perry Wilson, MD, associate professor of medicine (nephrology) and public health (chronic disease epidemiology), nominated her.

“I am deeply honored that the committee found me worthy of receiving this award in memory of Iva,” said Aklilu, “And it’s very motivating to see junior faculty acknowledged for their work early in their career.”

Aklilu’s research is focused on acute kidney injury (AKI), a condition that develops when kidney function is compromised. Although AKI is common, most AKI has no treatment, and even then it’s nonspecific.

Aklilu and team investigated whether early personalized recommendations from a dedicated renal team can improve the outcomes of hospitalized patients with AKI.

The clinical trial evaluated the impact of a kidney action team, composed of expert physicians and pharmacists trained in the evaluation and management of AKI, who evaluated patients who developed AKI during hospitalizations. The team assessed patients’ electronic health records and gave recommendations based on their medical history, laboratory results, vital signs, and more within one or two hours of developing the condition.

“AKI is routinely diagnosed based on a molecule called creatinine that is filtered by the kidney and can rise in the setting of reduced kidney function. AKI is commonly diagnosed based on guideline criteria for elevation in that marker from baseline. However, one’s creatinine level could rise for a variety of reasons, including medication initiation, and all creatinine rise meeting AKI criteria may not necessarily be caused by an actual injury to the kidney,” said Aklilu.

In this multicenter randomized clinical trial, although providing recommendations improved adherence to best practice and expert recommendations, there was no impact on clinical outcomes. The researchers note that the one-size-fits-all approach does not work for AKI, and diagnostic tools and interventions specific to the various types of AKI are needed.

The researchers also found evidence that medication dosing at the time of AKI diagnosis, including which medications to stop during AKI, is lacking.

Aklilu is interested in investigating SGLT2 inhibitors for the management of AKI, particularly in individuals with heart failure. She was awarded a grant from the American Heart Association for a pilot trial to eventually study the efficacy and safety of SGLT2 inhibitor use in the setting of AKI and acute heart failure exacerbation, a condition known as acute cardio-renal syndrome.

“These drugs offer long-term cardiovascular and kidney benefits in patients with heart failure and kidney disease, but they are often discontinued during an AKI episode due to concerns about worsening kidney function and often not restarted even after the AKI resolves. However, there is preliminary data that suggests these drugs may have benefit in AKI and this warrants investigation in a clinical trial,” added Aklilu.

Her retrospective research on over 3,000 patients suggests these drugs may have clinical benefits when used during AKI in this population.

The award was created for Iva Dostanic, MD, PhD, who was recruited to the Physician-Scientist Research Pathway in the Yale Traditional Internal Medicine Residency Training Program in 2011.

Dostanic was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly before graduating from medical school, and delayed residency while undergoing chemotherapy. She instead joined the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine as a research fellow in the lab of Patty Lee, MD.

She remained optimistic throughout her illness and continued doing what she loved most–research. In the Lee lab, Dostanic studied signaling mechanisms by which intermittent hypoxia led to pulmonary vascular dysregulation.

Despite undergoing chemotherapy treatments, Dostanic’s malignancy progressed. Before passing at age 35, she received the first Internal Medicine Physician-Scientist Trainee Award in her hospital room at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH).

Described as a true force of nature, Dostanic is remembered for her passion, energy, joyfulness, and brilliance.

“Even during the last phase of her illness, Iva dismissed her physical ailments and her face literally glowed with joy, describing her exciting research ideas. Iva’s passion and love for science and medicine, despite the most adverse circumstances possible, were truly awe-inspiring. Indeed, Iva's passion, commitment, and optimism–despite all odds–represented the very ideal of what it means to be a physician-scientist,” said Peter S. Aronson, MD, C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) and professor of cellular and molecular physiology, as he gave background on Dostanic at the annual lectureship. Aronson knew Dostanic personally, having been involved in her recruitment to the residency program at Yale.

The award was renamed in her memory in 2012, and the first lecture was given by Lee, who presented Dostanic’s research on the emerging roles of innate immunity in the lung and endothelium.

Since then, over a dozen fellows and junior faculty in the department have received the award in her memory. The recipients present their research findings at a special annual medical grand rounds, which is attended by Dostanic’s parents, Predrag and Dragana Dostanic. The Dostanics have also established an endowed fund in her name to support physician-scientist career development in the Department of Internal Medicine.

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