About the WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Awards
Each year, trainees and recent doctoral graduates are encouraged to apply for the WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Award. The Young Investigator Award provides a partial scholarship to attend WORLDSymposium 2026. To increase opportunities for newer scientists to present their research, WORLDSymposium is offering ten (10) Young Investigator Awards, open to all abstract categories.
Graduate students and those who are within the first 3 years after completing a graduate degree are eligible. Those who submitted an abstract as the first-author are considered eligible for the award, and are selected by the Program Committee on the basis of the content of the abstract.
The option to be considered for the Young Investigator Award for 2026 is in the WORLDSymposium 2026 Abstract Submission System. When submitting an abstract, applicants will have the ability to check “Yes” to apply for the Young Investigator Award for the abstract being submitted. All eligible applicants will be notified by November 5, 2025 of the status of their application for the award.
The Program Committee will select awardees from the first authors of abstracts submitted by the October 1, 2025 deadline.
The partial scholarship includes:
- Registration for LIVE, in-person WORLDSymposium 2026, The Patient Voice, and 2026 5th Annual Robert J. Gorlin Symposium
- 5 nights room and tax at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego (WORLDSymposium special group rate)
- Access to WORLDSymposium 2026 On Demand sessions
- All other expenses are the recipient’s responsibility
- If unable to attend in-person, scholarship includes VIRTUAL Registration for WORLDSymposium 2026. (No additional compensation will be provided for award recipients who are unable to attend in person.)
Recipients must be present, LIVE or VIRTUALLY, to receive the award. If the recipient is unable to travel to receive the Young Investigator Award, or attend VIRTUALLY, an alternate abstract will be selected.
The deadline for submitting an abstract to WORLDSymposium and to be considered for the Young Investigator Award is 17:00 CDT October 1, 2025.
Sign up for updates to be notified when awards are announced.
Past Award Recipients:
2025: Pratikshya Adhikari, Aimee Donald, Allan Feng, Angelica Maria Herreno Pachon, Andres Felipe Leal, Connor J. Lewis, Anna Reinelt, Krystyna Noelle Rytel, Roselena S. Schuh, Ewa A. Ziolkowska
2024: Tomas Baldwin, Betul Celik, Esteban Gonzalez, Sarah Hurt, Vi Pham, Luisa Pimentel Vera, Edina Poletto, Irene Serrano Gonzalo, Yuki Shiro, Lena Marie Westermann
2023: Nissrine Ballout, Hannah Best, Chloé Dias, Neil Kasaci, Roselena S. Schuh, David Smerkous, Jason A. Weesner, Anna-Maria Wiesinger, Zhenting Zhang, Xiangli Zhao
2022: Tierra Bobo, Jillian Gallagher, Ik Hui Kho, Oriana Mandolfo, Travis Moore, Sireesha Murala, Marya Sabir, Linda Scheffers, Mahsa Taherzadeh, Fiona Weaver
2021: Su Jin Choi, Jason Glanzman, Tyler Harm, Jane Kinsella, Stephanie Newman, Allegra Quadri, Allen Seylani, Miles Smith, Brianna Yund, Wei Zhu
2020: Joao B. Augusto, Nicholas Bascou, Nuthana Prathivadi Bhayankaram, Poulomee Bose, Eric Joshua Garcia, Mohammad A. Hossain, Jeffrey Y. Huang, Sarah Kim, Chelsie Poffenberger, Michael Przybilla, Weihua Tian
2019: Rhea Ashmead, Hojun Choi, Chloe Christensen, Jenny Do, Areian Eghbali, Eric Joshua Garcia, Francyne Kubaski, Murtaza Nagree, Yanyan Peng, Hiroyuki Yamakawa
2018: Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, Natalia Gomez-Ospina, Zhirui Jiang, Christina Mikulka, Salvatore Molino, Murtaza Nagree, Yanyan Peng, Roselena Schuh, Jenny Serra Vinardell, Nadav Weinstock
2017: Brendan Beaton, Carolina Cardona, Shahzeb Hassan, Shih-hsin Kan, Francyne Kubaski, Reid Martin, Stephanie Newman, Li Ou, Vincent Puy, Dora Lucia Vallejo Ardila
2016: Elma Aflaki, Allison Bradbury, Fu-Pang Chang, Camila de Britto Para de Aragao, Chrissa Dwyer, Arunabha Ghosh, Zhirui Jiang, Mari Mori