YSM News and Recognition

Genta Ishikawa, MD, MPH, and Catherine Mezzacappa, MD, MPH, both instructors at Yale School of Medicine, have been selected as the 2026 Iva Dostanic, MD, PhD, Physician-Scientist Trainee Award recipients. The award is presented to physician-scientists who exemplify the qualities of the late Iva Dostanic, MD, PhD, a trainee who left a mark on the department. Ishikawa is a pulmonologist who cares for people with interstitial lung disease, including pulmonary fibrosis. Mezzacappa studies the interactions between inherited (genetic) and lived risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer. The two will present their research findings at a special annual medical grand rounds in June.

Naftali Kaminski, MD, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary), gave the New York State Thoracic Society Trudeau Lecture on March 26, 2026. The lecture honors the same integration of discovery, patient care, and public-health leadership as Edward Livingston Trudeau, the first American investigator to culture the tubercle bacillus, which causes tuberculosis. Kaminski, who is also section chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, is a leader in improving the understanding and treatment of chronic lung diseases.

Michelle H. Kim, MD, MS, assistant professor of surgery (transplant), has received a 2026 Excellence in Care Award from the National Kidney Foundation. The award recognizes outstanding efforts in patient care, innovative research, and improving quality of life for patients with kidney disease. Kim’s clinical work focuses on adult and pediatric kidney transplantation, minimally invasive living kidney donor surgery, and robotic surgery, with a commitment to advancing living donor transplantation and expanding access to transplantation for children with kidney failure.

The American Association for Cancer Research has chosen David Rimm, MD, PhD, Anthony N. Brady Professor of Pathology and professor of medicine (medical oncology), to receive the 2026 James S. Ewing-Thelma B. Dunn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pathology in Cancer Research. The award recognizes and celebrates pathologists who have contributed significantly to advancing cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Rimm is being honored for “pioneering innovation in quantitative biomarker science that has transformed cancer diagnostics and treatment,” according to the announcement.

Three Yale School of Medicine researchers have been awarded grants from the American Cancer Society (ACS) and its partners to advance cancer research. These awards, part of a $6 million initiative with Yosemite, support high-risk/high-reward studies. The Yale researchers, their awards, and projects are:

• Benjamin Lu, MD, PhD (left), assistant professor of medicine (medical oncology/hematology), a Clinician Scientist Development Grant for "Effects of anti-TIGIT and anti-PD-1 on regulatory T cells and cancer cells in human glioblastoma."
• Salil Garg, MD, PhD (center), assistant professor of laboratory medicine, a Discovery Boost Grant for research on "Clonal heterogeneity as a driver of lung cancer growth."
• Mark Lee, MD, PhD, assistant professor of laboratory medicine, a Yosemite-ACS Award for "Validation of non-canonical tumor antigens as natural targets of intra-tumoral immunity."

Leah Harmon, a PhD student in the Department of Neuroscience, has been honored with a P.E.O. Scholar Award, established to provide substantial merit-based awards for U.S. and Canadian women who are pursuing a doctoral-level degree at an accredited college or university. Recipients are chosen for their high level of academic achievement and their potential for having a positive impact on society. As a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program in the Chandra lab, Harmon is investigating molecular and cellular mechanisms of Parkinson's Disease.

Hyunhyuk Tae, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in cell biology and a member of the Ramakrishnan Lab in the Department of Pathology, has been awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program, an international program of research support that funds leading-edge research on the complex mechanisms of living organisms. The fellowship program supports proposals for potentially transformative research in the life sciences. Tae’s project is titled “Vesicle heterogeneity as a molecular code for secretory plasticity.”

The Yale Department of Internal Medicine recently presented its third round of Voluntary Faculty Awards, which honor voluntary faculty who teach medical students, physician associate students, residents, and fellows at Yale School of Medicine, Yale New Haven Hospital, Yale New Haven Health, and affiliated hospitals. The recipients and their awards are:

• Christopher Erb, MD, PhD, assistant clinical professor (pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine), the Distinction in Research Award, honoring a voluntary faculty member who has made an outstanding contribution to the education and promotion of basic, clinical, or translational research.
• Joni Hansson, MD, associate clinical professor (nephrology), the Distinction in Leadership Award, honoring a voluntary faculty member who has demonstrated exceptional leadership throughout their career.
• Yamini Krishnan, MD, clinical instructor, the Inpatient Medicine Award, which honors a voluntary faculty member who primarily provides inpatient care.
• Robert Linden, MD, clinical instructor, the Primary Care/General Medicine Award, given to a voluntary faculty member who is a primary care or general medicine physician.