YSM News and Recognition

Jennifer Claydon, PhD, joined the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences on June 1 as assistant dean for the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) program. Previously, Claydon was the senior associate director of training program assessment at Yale School of Medicine, dividing her time between the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program and the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.

The AZA Lab, led by AZA Allsop, MD, PhD, principal investigator and assistant professor of psychiatry, received a Quartet Award from the New Haven Symphony Orchestra at its Garden Concert at The Estate in New Haven on May 15. The Quartet Award honors people and organizations whose contributions have strengthened the symphony and broader New Haven community. The AZA Lab won the Quartet Award for Innovation for “pioneering new frontiers in mental health by integrating neuroscience, music, mindfulness, and culturally grounded approaches to healing.” The AZA Lab is dedicated to transforming the future of mental health through interdisciplinary innovation.

Cristiana Baloescu, MD, MPH, assistant professor of emergency medicine, was presented with the Most Impactful Researcher Award and Best Broadscale Innovation Award by the Academy of Emergency Ultrasound at the annual Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) meeting. She was also elected to the executive committee for 2026-2027 as a research officer. Baloescu, who is also director of ultrasound research in the Section of Emergency Ultrasound, studies the use of machine learning in point-of-care ultrasound, with applications in cardiac and lung imaging.

Siba Haykal, MD, PhD, section chief of reconstructive oncology in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Yale School of Medicine, received the 2026 Healthnetwork Foundation Service Excellence Award. Healthnetwork selects physicians based on feedback from grateful patients and supporters. As a recipient of the award, Haykal will receive a donation to support her research and clinical activities and will be honored at a dinner. Haykal is a reconstructive surgeon-scientist whose work focuses on complex oncologic reconstruction, tissue engineering and improving outcomes for patients undergoing cancer-related reconstructive surgery.

Yuan Lu, ScD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiovascular medicine), has received an American Heart Association (AHA) award through the “Identifying Effects of GLP-1 Medications Among Individuals with Cardiovascular, Kidney, and Metabolic (CKM) Disease” program. The two-year award will support Lu’s project to evaluate the real-world effectiveness and heterogeneity of GLP-1/GIP therapies among patients with CKM syndrome using large-scale electronic health record data and advanced causal inference methods. Lu’s research focuses on generating actionable real-world evidence to improve cardiovascular and cardiometabolic care through the use of large-scale clinical data, implementation science, and artificial intelligence.

Graeme Mason, PhD, professor of radiology and biomedical imaging, has been appointed to the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in recognition of his long history of alcohol research using imaging and spectroscopy. The 18-member council advises the Health and Human Services secretary, the National Institutes of Health director, and NIAAA director on alcohol abuse and alcoholism research, policies, and program priorities.

Ob/Gyn resident Animesh Upadhyay, MD, recently won the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Junior Fellow Essay Competition. Upadhyay’s winning piece, titled “When the Algorithm Failed,” which looks at how “being present” supercedes technology in many ways, was published in the Green Journal.