Six University of New Mexico Health Sciences faculty members were recently honored with UNM’s 16th annual Excellence in Research Awards.
The scientists received the awards in a ceremony held at the Domenici Center for Health Sciences Education on Nov. 5, 2024. Each was nominated by their peers, said Hengameh Raissy, PharmD, Interim Vice President for Research, Health Sciences. More than 40 nominations were received this year.
It has always been a very humbling experience reviewing all the nominees and their achievements. Their dedication, innovation and efforts toward advancing science have inspired all of us.
Research is a key part of the UNM Health Sciences mission to serve New Mexicans, said Mike Richards, MD, MPA, interim Executive Vice President for Health Sciences Center.
If science is going to be discovered in the biomedical and health fields, it’s going to be here with the folks in this room. It’s not just about improving lives tomorrow through science, but improving lives today.
The awards were presented in six categories:
- Changjian (Jim) Feng, PhD, professor and assistant dean for Research in the College of Pharmacy, received the Basic Science Research award. He studies the biophysical mechanisms underlying the function of nitric oxide synthase, a major protein in cardiovascular and neurological disease research. He aims to develop a collective knowledge of multidomain proteins by applying novel biophysical and computational tools to decipher fundamental principles underlying many reactions catalyzed by these enzymes.
- Ursa Brown-Glaberman, MD, an associate professor and vice chief for Faculty Development in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, received the Clinical Science award. She provides clinical care to breast and gastrointestinal cancer patients and cancer genomic sequencing for American Indian patients, leading to greater access to clinical trial and research. Since joining UNM in 2013, she has accrued 725 individual patients to clinical trials, including 431 to NCI-funded NCTN trials.
- Donald Godwin, PhD, professor and dean of the UNM College of Pharmacy, received the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning award. His extensive contributions to educational scholarship reflect a lasting commitment to improving teaching and learning in pharmacy education. He has been instrumental in the development and implementation of noteworthy educational programs. He spearheaded the “Diversifying the Healthcare Pipeline” project, which focuses on increasing awareness, recruitment and retention of diverse student populations in the pharmacy profession.
- Chuck Wiggins, PhD, a tenured professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Preventive Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, received the Population Science Research award. Over more than 40 years, he has developed a strong record of advancing knowledge in cancer epidemiology, particularly among New Mexico’s Hispanic and American Indian populations. He is a key resource for the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center and groups focused on cancer registries and cancer epidemiology.
- Alison Kell, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, received the Junior Faculty Research award. She studies the molecular interactions driving hantavirus pathogenesis in humans, investigating the virus-host interactions in human and reservoir host cells associated with innate immune activation, endothelial cell dysfunction and vascular inflammation. She has demonstrated that hantavirus infection within the natural rodent reservoir host does not elicit innate immune activation, in contrast to hantavirus infections in humans.
- Nancy Kanagy, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Cell Biology & Physiology, received the Team Science award. Her work focuses on the role of endogenous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in endothelial cell signaling in health and disease. Her team discovered the novel pathway by which H2S causes vascular dilation through autocrine actions in the endothelium by activating TRPV4 channels linked to a poorly understood pathway of endothelial large conductance-Ca2+ activated potassium channels.