2023 Researcher Appreciation Day | Emory School of Medicine

Department of Medicine Joyce Akwe

Dr. Joyce Akwe publishes work on Veterans’ healthcare and hospital medicine. She was the Atlanta site lead for an innovative study of patients hospitalized with alcohol withdrawal. Her scholarship specialty is writing reviews synthesizing evidence for practice.

Department of Medicine Blake Anderson

Dr. Blake Anderson developed a natural language processing AI model (Switchboard MD) that uses data science and artificial intelligence to improve patient care by expediting physician-patient communication and speeding up access to Covid-19 antiviral treatment.

Department of Medicine Byron Au-Yeung

Dr. Byron Au-Yeung's work challenges the notion that "all T cells are born the same". Instead, he shows that each T cell is born with a pre-defined "flavor" that can be leveraged to treat inflammatory diseases, autoimmunity, improve CAR T cell therapies, and more.

Department of Medicine Sharon Bergquist

Dr. Sharon Bergquist is finding new ways to boost wellness and make that information accessible to the widest possible community. She investigates the impact of lifestyle factors on health and how people can make sustainable changes that will benefit their wellbeing.

Department of Medicine Sherri Bogard

Dr. Sherri Bogard is an emerging leader at Grady Memorial Hospital and serves as site lead for a multisite research study on COPD. She received funding to support research on AIDS and published her findings on prescribing patterns & drug costs at a safety net hospital.

Department of Pediatrics Summer Bottini

Dr. Summer Bottini and colleagues are developing a tool to identify workplace stressors unique to providers serving autistic populations and predictive of burnout. This tool will be used to inform targeted intervention strategies for burnout.

Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics Sheree Boulet

Dr. Sheree Boulet’s work helps us better understand and address the medical and social needs of our patients and the factors that may prevent them from accessing essential health care. Her focus on community engagement ensures that the research reflects the true needs of the communities we serve and contributes to acceptable and sustainable interventions. This work is critical in addressing maternal care and health disparities.

Department of Surgery Luke Brewster

Dr. Luke Brewster is the Chief of Vascular Surgery at the Atlanta VA and VA Merit funded investigator focused on translating vascular biology opportunities in order to preserve limb health in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

Department of Radiation Oncology Zachary Buchwald

Dr. Zachary Buchwald is remarkably well-funded and has made highly significant contributions to our understanding of how radiation modulates the immune response as well as the role of the circadian clock in impacting anti-cancer immunity.

Department of Medicine Laurence Busse

Dr. Laurence Busse created a multidisciplinary translational research program called Satellite Trials Group of Emory (STaGE) designed to share resources, facilitate, scholarly work and mentor junior investigators who have interest in bedside clinical research.

Department of Emergency Medicine Joseph Carpenter

Dr. Joseph Carpenter has dedicated his career to improving care for patients with opioid use disorder by exploring innovative ways to decrease the burden of infectious disease, improve access to care, and explore new treatments options.

Department of Pediatrics Ann Chahroudi

Dr. Ann Chahroudi’s research focuses on identifying cellular and anatomic HIV/SIV reservoirs that represent the key obstacles to finding an HIV cure, by using nonhuman primate models to more completely assess the sources of virus.

Department of Medicine Rosette Chakkalakal

Dr. Rosette Chakkalakal is examining racial/ethnic differences in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) as a sequela of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). The project will characterize PASC-associated T2DM in communities that have higher rates of COVID infection, mortality, and T2DM.

Department of Ophthalmology Sayantan Datta

Dr. Sayantan Datta discovered that impaired mitophagy in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) alters energy synthesis and cell shape in retinal cells. Based on these findings, he is developing a novel treatment approach for AMD in which stem cell-derived retinal pigmented epithelial cells are injected into the eye to replace damaged cells.

Department of Microbiology/Immunology Cheryl Day

Dr. Cheryl Day leads studies of immune responses to infection and vaccination in children in Kenya. She serves as protocol Immunologist on clinical trials evaluating novel TB vaccines, TB treatment regimens, and therapeutic approaches for HBV and HIV cure.

Department of Medicine Matthew Dudgeon

Dr. Matthew Dudgeon belongs to an HIV working group analyzing socioeconomic data related to virologic failure of antiretrovirals in South Africa and assesses vaccine exemplar programs with the Vaccine Exemplars Research Consortium.

Department of Cell Biology Arthur English

Dr. Arthur English, Professor of Cell Biology, has been a valued member of our faculty and served as a principal investigator on NIH grants for over forty years. Dr. English’s research program has made major advances and discoveries on mechanisms of recovery from peripheral nerve injuries.

Department of Medicine Jessica Fairley

Dr. Jessica Fairley studies neglected tropical diseases, especially leprosy. She has a large project to identify risk factors for leprosy transmission in Brazil and also cares for patients with leprosy as the Director of Emory Hansen's Disease program. Dr. Fairley's research has greatly advanced the understanding of the risk factors for, environmental hosts, & transmission of leprosy especially the role that other parasitic co-infections & environment impact risk. She is a global expert in Leprosy.

Department of Dermatology Ron Feldman

Dr. Ron Feldman is a national leader in the study and care of patients with autoimmune blistering disease. He also serves as Vice Chair of Research and leads the clinical research unit in Dermatology. He epitomizes the clinician-scientist.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences David Goldsmith

Dr. David Goldsmith provides mechanistic insight into whether inflammation impacts brain regions that contribute to motivational deficits in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia and will provide a foundation for personalized treatments for these patients.

Department of Medicine Cassie Grimsley Ackerley

Dr. Grimsley Ackerley's research is centered around being a staunch advocate for the health of transgender and gender-diverse individuals, including in understanding how to optimize sexual health and HIV prevention interventions.

Department of Pediatrics Jocelyn Grunwell

Dr. Jocelyn Grunwell's work highlights how acute illness is exacerbated by a combination of factors including social economic and health disparities, along with host immunologic factors. These findings have resulted in new avenues for exploration.

Department of Emergency Medicine Alex Hall

As a clinical trial expert, Dr. Alex Hall is advancing the field of clinical trial research in numerous fields of medicine by improving study planning, design, and implementation strategies while optimizing multidisciplinary communication and patient safety.

Department of Medicine C. Michael Hart

Dr. C. Michael Hart is the Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the Atlanta VA and has performed seminal work defining novel mechanisms and therapeutics for pulmonary hypertension. He is an eminent scholar and mentor devoted to supporting young researchers.

Department of Cell Biology Criss Hartzell

Dr. Criss Hartzell, Professor of Cell Biology, has been a valued member of our faculty and served as a principal investigator on NIH grants for over forty years. Dr. Hartzell’s research program has made major advances and discoveries on ion channels and lipid transport mechanisms in health and disease.

Department of Medicine Saria Hassan

Dr. Saria Hassan uses implementation science to reduce the impact of climate change on disparities in US and global non-communicable diseases (NCD). Through NIH & EPA grants, she works with communities to co-develop ways to manage NCDs during climate stressors. NCDs are often neglected in humanitarian and resource limited settings. Dr. Hassan's work has helped implement sustainable interventions to reduce the burden of NCDs in these settings in multiple countries and domestically.

Department of Medicine Onyinye Iheaku

Dr. Onyinye Iheaku is the co-lead for a multisite study investigating COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers at four Atlanta healthcare systems. Dr. Iheaku is part of a working group that published research on the social determinants of health associated with COVID-19 readmissions.

Department of Anesthesiology Craig Jabaley

Dr. Craig Jabaley's goal is to create a culture of scholarship within the Critical Care Medicine Division. His research interest includes resuscitation and emergency airway management in critically ill patients. He is also interested in exploratory biomedical application of machine learning and time series analysis. His work also involves the use of healthcare technology in patients suffering from post-COVID syndrome.

Department of Medicine Anand Jain

Dr. Anand Jain's research can lead to new ways to treat swallowing disorders like achalasia. His findings are novel and demonstrate a role for fibrosis in the esophagus in the development of abnormal esophageal motility.

Department of Pediatrics Xu Ji

Dr. Xu Ji is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Ji has brought the skill set of analyzing Medicaid data and her knowledge of insurance policies to further evaluate social determinants of health in childhood cancer patients and survivors. She is a tireless and innovative professional.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Julie Kable

Dr. Julie Kable's research has improved the lives of children affected by in utero exposures to alcohol and other substances by improving the early identification, diagnosis and treatment of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), with direct contributions to DSM-5 and the AAP's FASD Toolbox.

Department of Family and Preventive Medicine Deanna Kaplan

Dr. Deanna Kaplan's research integrates ambulatory methods for studying the pathways by which social behavior impacts health outcomes, including studying how consumer wearables may help patients with long COVID and studying psychedelic-assisted therapies. Dr. Kaplan's innovating new methods for studying people in their daily life. She is extremely collaborative and a phenomenal research mentor, weaving her expertise into many disparate projects and teaching learners how to conduct rigorous research.

Department of Radiation Oncology Aparna Kesarwala

Dr. Aparna Kesarwala is a physician-scientist, she utilizes advanced AI-based imaging to improve cancer radiotherapy,. Dr. Kesarwala was awarded an NIH Trailblazer Award R21 for translating AI-driven tech into clinical trials. This marks the Department of Radiation Oncology's inaugural AI-driven clinical trial.

Department of Biochemistry Sohail Khoshnevis

Dr. Sohail Khoshnevis’s research focuses on how the fungus Candida albicans transitions from a commensal to a pathogenic state. Using cutting-edge technologies, Dr. Khoshnevis research is showing how RNA modifications are critical for this transition and is targeting this molecular mechanism for novel anti-fungal drug development. His work has recently been recognized by a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA; R35) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH.

Department of Emergency Medicine Emily Kiernan

Dr. Emily Kiernan is managing a 4 year, $2 million HRSA grant expanding access to opioid use disorder in rural Georgia. She is also a tremendous advocate for the medical toxicology trainees, actively engaging them in multiple research projects.

Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics Anna Knight

Dr. Anna Knight's research focuses on using molecular biomarkers, such as DNA methylation and vaginal microbiome composition, to better understand the intersections between reproductive aging, long-term health, and factors associated with in vitro fertilization success. Identifying such biomarkers may allow us to better understand the underlying etiology of reproductive aging and how its acceleration contributes to the onset of other chronic, age-related disorders. Dr. Knight's research may also allow clinicians to provide more personalized counseling on the likelihood of in vitro fertilization success.

Department of Medicine Ketevan Kobaidze

Dr. Ketevan Kobaidze is a member of the COVID-19 Characteristics, Readmissions, Outcomes, and Social Determinants of Health (CROSS) group that continues to investigate COVID-19 health inequities, with intentional recruitment of BIPOC and women. Dr. Kobaidze is a force for scholarship at EUH-Midtown and across our Division and 10 hospital sites. She publishes frequent clinical updates and excels in encouraging and promoting scholarship opportunities among colleagues and learners.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Benson Ku

Dr. Benson Ku's research involves prevention or mitigation of psychosis among youth at clinical high risk for psychosis by focusing on the impact of neighborhood characteristics on psychosis conversion and other outcomes in early psychosis.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Seema Lakdawala

Dr. Seema Lakdawala's work has made important advances in understanding how influenza viruses spread from person to person. To further this success she is leading an effort to establish a model in which experimentally infected humans transmit to contacts.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Dorian Lamis

Dr. Dorian Lamis is an internationally recognized expert on suicide risk and his work is advancing our understanding of risk factors and predictors. Dr. Lamis's work at Grady is especially important for suicide risk prevention in an especially vulnerable population.

Department of Anesthesiology Olabisi Lane

Dr. Olabisi Lane is an anesthesiologist and pain medicine physician. Her main areas of research are in the use of erythropoietin for the prevention of post-surgical pain and intranasal ketamine for the control of refractory cancer pain. She does this while leading the Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain service, where she specializes in pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic techniques to treat acute and post-operative pain.

Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology Yona Levites

Dr. Yona Levites is a standout researcher who studies neurodegenerative disorders, especially Alzheimer's Disease. Her work has shed light on how protein misfolding can lead to neuronal death, and how this process can be blocked to protect the brain.

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Xiaoxian Li

Dr. Xiaoxian Li has been very productive in publications and grant applications. His recent research may change the landscape of biomarker evaluations and elucidate the mechanisms underlying tumor response to chemotherapy and targeted therapies.

Department of Pediatrics Latania Logan

Dr. Latania Logan seeks to understand how best to care for children with highly resistant Gram negative bacterial infections by advancing strategies to optimally utilize diagnostic resources and antimicrobial therapy to improve child health outcomes.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Allison LoPilato

Dr. Allison LoPilato's research is centered in suicide risk in adolescents. By studying youth suicidality in the face of numerous practical, safety, and ethical hurdles, Dr. LoPilato's research contributes to implement and develop interventions for this high-risk population. She is a creative and collaborative researcher with a clear commitment to identifying new treatment targets for youth mood disorders & turning her research findings into actionable and accessible intervention strategies for depressed & suicidal youth.

Department of Microbiology/Immunology Anice Lowen

Dr. Anice Lowen studies have greatly advanced our understanding of influenza biology. Dr Lowen has shown that, while infection with a single virion typically fails, beneficial virus-virus interactions occurring during coinfection ensure robust production of viral progeny.

Department of Biomedical Engineering Anant Madabhushi

Dr. Anant Madabhushi's research on artificial intelligence is making tangible impact on addressing health disparities, global health and in precision medicine. He is a prolific inventor and has started 3 companies, had a technology FDA approved and garnered $100M in funding.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Jessica Maples-Keller

Dr. Jessica Maples-Keller is a leader in the nascent field of psychedelic-assisted therapy and expert on PTSD development and treatment. Dr. Maples-Keller's research combines a focus on psychological, neurobiological and equity factors to improve life-saving therapies for PTSD. Her research aims to develop culturally informed care for diverse groups, improving access and care.

Department of Human Genetics Zachary McEachin

In addition to mentoring students and more junior scientists, Dr. Zachary McEachin has led efforts into using multiomics to characterizing molecular mechanisms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. His research provides a foundation for future progress.

Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics Susan Modesitt

Dr. Susan Modesitt has expanded Emory’s portfolio of gynecologic cancer clinical trials significantly since joining our faculty in 2022. She believes that today’s clinical trials are tomorrow’s standard of care and is working towards her goal of being able to offer an innovative, clinical trial to every gynecologic oncology patient.

Department of Neurosurgery Nassir Mokarram

Dr. Nassir Mokarram-Dorri is investigating a paradigm-shifting approach to treating malignant brain tumors: rather than trying to kill or halt these invasive tumors, his research is focusing on guiding tumors by either providing a 'preferred migration path' that exploits the invasive nature of tumor against itself, or through precisely tuned, migration-inducing, external stimuli for highly diffused tumors to consolidate and move cancer cells into 'safe' locations where they can be easily removed.

Department of Orthopaedics Gregory Myer

Dr. Gregory Myer is a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics and the Director of the Emory Sports Performance And Research Center (SPARC). Through Dr. Myer's research and innovative intervention work, he is changing the landscape of injury prevention in sports-related injury. As the Emory SPARC Director, he is creating innovative ways to prevent injuries as well as rehabilitate existing injuries such as ACL and knee injuries. He just received funding from the Arthur Blank Foundation.

Department of Medicine Modele Ogunniyi

Dr. Modele Ogunniyi is a trailblazer. She created the Ogunniyi Research group, a peer-mentorship-based research program, dedicated to advancing health equity in Cardiology through scholarship and building the pipeline for URiM trainees through mentorship. Dr. Ogunniyi coauthored two important JACC manuscripts, focusing on cardiovascular disease in women.

Department of Dermatology Lauren Orenstein

Dr. Lauren Orenstein has become a national leader in the study and care of patients with severe hidradenitis suppurativa, in particular the debilitating pain associated with the disease. Beyond research, she is a tireless advocate and mentor.

Department of Orthopaedics Jay Patel

Dr. Jay Patel holds a VA Career Development Award and conducts groundbreaking research on repair and regeneration of musculoskeletal soft tissues, with the goal of taking novel biomaterial and therapeutic approaches from conceptualization to the clinic.

Department of Medicine Viniya Patidar

Dr. Viniya Patidar led a large, multidisciplinary initiative to address telemetry overuse across all Emory Healthcare hospitals, saving an estimated $1 million and reducing burden of unneeded monitoring for Emory patients.

Department of Surgery Chrystal Paulos

Dr. Paulos is forging new territory in cell therapy for cancer. She recently published on streamlining cell manufacturing to improve cost and efficiency. She inspires trainees to innovate, obtain fellowships and translate discoveries to patients.

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Anne Piantadosi

Dr. Piantadosi has been a leader in the COVID research response, contributing to key diagnostic, transmission, and viral pathogenesis studies. She also maintains active work in other viruses and mentors numerous students and post-docs.

Department of Dermatology Cassandra Quave

Dr. Quave is a pioneer in ethnobotany and Curator of the Emory Herbarium. Her innovative research draws from across disciplines and cultures to produce novel compounds with antibiotic properties. She has become a face of research Emory University.

Department of Otolaryngology Nikhila Raol

Dr. Raol has published extensively and presented widely on her pediatric feeding and sleep research. She aims to increase oral feeding ability for patients as well as surgical techniques for sleep apnea. She has a Fullbright to India to study feeding.

Department of Pediatrics Christopher Rees

Dr. Rees' research gathers fundamental data needed to understand and decrease pediatric mortality in low- and middle-income countries where there is a disproportionate burden of pediatric death and works to create strategies to address these disparities.

Department of Neurology Amy Rodriguez

Dr. Rodriguez's innovative research with the Cognitive Empowerment Program is creating access to, and building the evidence base for, lifestyle interventions that slow or prevent cognitive and functional decline and its impact on quality of life.

Department of Biomedical Informatics Abeed Sarker

Dr. Sarker was recently funded by the NIH/NIDA to study substance use from social media data via natural language processing. In a recently published PNAS paper funded by this grant, Dr. Sarker’s research showed that insights from social media data correlate with multi-year survey metrics.

Department of Pediatrics Mindy Scheithauer

Dr. Scheithauer and colleagues, through a grant with Northeastern University, are combining expertise to predict when aggressive behaviors will occur in autistic youth through biosensor data. This has potential to dramatically improve safety.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Rebecca Schneider

Dr. Schneider’s clinical research is advancing our understanding of how to improve the delivery of evidence-based treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her pioneering work on misophonia is expanding our understanding of a little-known disorder.

Department of Radiology David Schuster

Dr. Schuster has been a pioneer of novel PET radiotracer molecular imaging agents for early detection of recurrent prostate cancer, which have had a significant impact on patient outcomes.

Department of Family and Preventive Medicine Megha Shah

Dr. Shah has advanced effective interventions to address chronic diseases within the South Asian community by collaborating with community members, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders to improve health equity through tailored interventions.

Department of Medicine Yoo Shin

Dr. Shin was site lead for a multisite international study demonstrating heparin’s utility for COVID-19. She has written narrative reviews on post–COVID-19 myocarditis, COVID-19 cardiac arrest care, COVID-19 and vaping, and COVID-19 and sickle cell disease.

Department of Pediatrics Sarah Shultz

Dr. Shultz's research advances autism specturm disorder understanding via innovative neuroimaging at Marcus Autism Center. Her work delves into the neural and behavioral origins of disrupted social engagement, informing interventions and reshaping the field of autism.

Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics Alicia Smith

Dr. Smith’s work has helped us better understand DNA methylation and its association with gestational age and role as an indicator of developmental maturity. Additionally, Dr. Smith’s leadership, in her role as Vice Chair of Research, has brought about tremendous research growth for Gynecology/Obstetrics over the last year.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Jennifer Stevens

Dr. Stevens' research involves identifying neurophysiological and endocrine biomarkers of trauma in women to improve our understanding of how their brains respond to trauma, which can aid in our understanding of gender-specific treatment approaches.

Department of Family and Preventive Medicine Sathish Thirunavukkarasu

Dr. Thirunavukkarasu's research is advancing the field of precision medicine for the prevention of type 2 diabetes with different lifestyle modification strategies for various prediabetes phenotypes, mainly the understudied population with impaired fasting glucose.

Department of Pediatrics Rabin Tirouvanziam

Dr. Tirouvanziam has developed innovative models to mimic the lung environment to help progress forward drug development in the most natural setting. He is tackling multiple diseases areas with similar approaches, demonstrating broad reach.

Department of Medicine Sara Turbow

Dr. Turbow's work identifies risk factors for, and outcomes associated with care fragmentation, particularly in populations at risk for disparities. She is studying whether health information technology (e.g. portals) can improve outcomes when care is fragmented.

Department of Medicine Tiffany Walker

Dr. Walker has been tireless in advancing the understanding of long-COVID since early in the pandemic and helped to make Emory a leader in the field. Her work will not only inform on long-COVID, but may even extrapolate to other post-viral conditions.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Aliza Wingo

Dr. Wingo has performed groundbreaking work to elucidate risk genes and brain proteins that contribute to the pathogenesis of major psychiatric disorders and Alzheimer's disease through integration of genome-wide association studies with human brain multi-omics data.

Department of Medicine Michael Woodworth

Dr. Woodworth's research is accelerating the development of novel therapies to reduce colonization with antibiotic resistant bacteria. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies for this problem.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Charlotte Yasinski

Dr. Yasinski conducts methodologically rigorous research investigating how specific processes and demographic factors and other predictors are associated with treatment outcomes in evidence-based psychotherapy for depression and PTSD. She is developing and disseminating Exposure-Based Cognitive Therapy for depression and exploring frontiers in psychotherapy augmentation (e.g., emerging technologies and psychedelics).

Department of Dermatology Howa Yeung

Dr. Yeung is a renowned thought leader in the study of skin health in sexual and gender minority persons and people living with HIV. Not only is he a prolific researcher but he also serves as mentor to innumerable trainees.

Department of Urology Jindan Yu

Dr. Yu has quickly galvanized the Winship and Urology prostate cancer investigators to develop new collaborations, invigorated esprit de corps and has become an inspirational leader for the entire Urology and Prostate Cancer research team.

Department of Medicine Chris Yun

Dr. Yun directs a productive research program elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate intestinal epithelial function and integrity. He has had continuous federal funding including a recent VA Merit grant.

Department of Emergency Medicine Amy Zeidan

Dr. Zeidan provides a voice for the voiceless to improve access to care and treatment for refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, and those with limited English proficiency.

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Wei Zheng

By identifying GI and liver cancers with DNA double-strand break repair deficiency, Dr. Zheng's work helps to select patients for targeted therapy like PARP inhibitors and also provides insights into novel technologies for precision pathology diagnosis.