WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Awards Announced

Neil Kasaci, David Smerkous, Roselena S. Schuh, Zhenting Zhang, Chester B. Whitley, Chloé Dias, Nissrine Ballout, Jason A. Weesner, Anna-Maria Wiesinger (Not pictured: Hannah Best, Xiangli Zhao) 

Congratulations to the ten individuals selected to receive the 19th Annual WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Award. The award is a partial scholarship towards attendance at WORLDSymposium 2023. 75 investigators-in-training submitted an application for the award, and the review process was difficult due to the excellent caliber of all the applications. WORLDSymposium would like to congratulate all of the applicants for their hard work.

The following individuals received the 2023 WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Award at the 19th Annual Scientific Meeting on Tuesday, February 23, 2023 at 7:30 AM EST:

  • Nissrine Ballout, Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
  • Hannah Best, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
  • Chloé Dias, Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
  • Neil Kasaci, Lysosomal and Rare Disorders Research and Treatment Center, Fairfax, Virginia, United States
  • Roselena S. Schuh, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
  • David Smerkous, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States
  • Jason A. Weesner, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
  • Anna-Maria Wiesinger, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
  • Zhenting Zhang, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
  • Xiangli Zhao, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States

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 2023. 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 were within the first 3 years after completing a graduate degree were eligible. Those who submitted an abstract as the first-author were considered eligible for the award, and were 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 2023 was in the WORLDSymposium 2023 Abstract Submission System. When submitting an abstract, applicants had the ability to check “Yes” to apply for the Young Investigator Award for the abstract being submitted.

The Program Committee selected awardees from the first authors of abstracts submitted by the October 1, 2022 deadline.

The partial scholarship included:

  • Registration for LIVE, in-person WORLDSymposium 2023 and Emerging Trends 2023
  • 5 nights room and tax at the Hilton Orlando (WORLDSymposium special group rate)
  • Access to WORLDSymposium 2023 On-Demand session
  • All other expenses are the recipient’s responsibility

Recipients must be present LIVE to receive the award. If the recipient is unable to travel to receive the Young Investigator Award an alternate abstract will be selected.

The deadline for submitting an abstract to WORLDSymposium and to be considered for the Young Investigator Award was 11:59PM CDT October 1, 2022.

Past Award Recipients:

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

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