DHLRI Research Day

DHLRI Pre-Doctoral Student of the Year Award

The DHLRI Pre-Doctoral Student of the Year award is an annual competition to identify the “DHLRI Graduate Student of the Year”. 3 Graduate Students (from all applications) will be invited to present their research in RIP (15 min talk+5 min Q&A) on September 13, 2025.

The winner will receive the Graduate Student of the Year Award and all 3 presenters will receive travel awards ($500, $300 and $200) per their scoring.

The winner will also serve on the DHLRI Education Committee for 1 year.

Applications are due by Friday, August 15 at 11:59pm to Latisha.Roland@osumc.edu. 
 

Applicants

Graduate Student with DHLRI faculty member as their primary mentor. 

Ideal Candidates

Post-candidacy PhD and MD/PhD students with exceptional scholarly and research activities evident from: 

• cGPA
• Pre-Doctoral grants submitted to cover expenses for stipend, tuition, research or travel
• Workshops and Conferences attended
• Quality of paper drafts written and submitted

Application Documentation Required

Abstract of Current Research

• Arial 11-point font
• Limited to 2000 characters and 2-4 panels (spacing does not count as characters)

NIH Style Biosketch

Personal statement (limited to 650 words, approximately 1 page) Should reflect: 

• Research motivation
• Grants submitted (National and Institutional) to secure funds for research, tuition, or travel
• Additional courses and workshops attended and presentations to develop research, teaching, and grant writing abilities
• Service and outreach activities like judging High-School or undergraduate 

Mentor Letter (Arial 11-point font, limited to 650 words) Should reflect: 

• Candidate work-ethics and independence in the laboratory research, ability to troubleshoot, motivation to learn scientific techniques, and paper and grant writing skills
• Innovativeness and independence in designing experiments
• Training others in the lab
• Quality of first-drafts of papers written

For more information or to submit you application, please reach out to Latisha.Roland@osumc.edu. 

DHLRI Post-Doctoral Fellow of the Year Award

The DHLRI Post-Doctoral Student of the Year award is an annual competition during Post Doctoral Appreciation Week. 3 Post-docs (from all applications) will be invited to present their research in RIP (15 min talk+5 min Q&A.

The winner will receive the Post-Doc of the Year Award and all 3 presenters will receive travel awards ($500, $300 and $200) per their scoring.

The winner will also serve on the DHLRI Education Committee for 1 year.

Applications are due by Friday, August 15 at 11:59pm to Latisha.Roland@osumc.edu. 

Applicants

Post-doctoral fellows with DHLRI faculty member as their primary mentor. 

Ideal Candidates

PhDs, MDs and/or MD/PhDs within 4 years of post-doctoral training, motivated to develop an academic research career

Previous Finalists

Winners from previous years cannot apply. Finalists are eligible to apply in subsequent years if a different research project is being presented. 

Application Documentation Required

Abstract of Current Research

• Arial 11-point font
• Limited to 2000 characters and 2-4 panels (spacing does not count as characters)

NIH Style Biosketch

Personal statement (limited to 650 words, approximately 1 page) Should reflect: 

• Motivation to develop academic career
• Grants submitted (National and Institutional) to secure funds for research, salary, or travel
• Teaching and training peers and students
• Courses and workshops attended to develop research, teaching, and grant writing abilities
• Judging High-School, undergraduate or graduate level science fairs
• Special emphasis will also be given to the "contributions to science" section to identify scope of the previous and present research

Mentor Letter (Arial 11-point font, limited to 650 words) Should reflect: 

• Candidate role in writing grants to develop applicant's career and grant writing skills
• Innovativeness and independence in designing experiments
• Training others in the lab
• Independence in working

For more information or to submit you application, please reach out to Latisha.Roland@osumc.edu. 

In October, the 2024 DHLRI 19th Annual Research Day was a resounding success. Highlighting the significance of academic and scientific research, the event boasted >130 posters and was attended by hundreds of participants and viewers. Representing a diverse scope of discovery, researchers from undergrads to faculty presented their work through posters and talks. Community partners, such as the American Heart Association, attended , getting a first-hand look at their funding support in action. 

OSU's very own Joshua Joseph, MD, MPH, FAHA, ACI (Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism) gave the keynote to a standing room only audience, "Cardiometabolic Risk: From People to Populations." Dr. Joseph is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, an investigator in the Diabetes & Metabolism Research Center and Affiliated Faculty, Translational Data Analytics Institute. His engaging talk spoke to approaches to diabetes treatment that reduces cardiovascular risk, the current state of cardiometabolic risk in diabetes and shared real-world examples of interventions to advance cardiometabolic health and health equity. 

Distinguished Awards

Sakima Smith, MD - Melissa G. Piper Distinguished Mentor Award

Kristy Townsend, PhD - Chuck Webb Innovator of the Year Award

Daniela Farkas - Distinguished Basic Research Staff Award

Jennifer Smith - Distinguished Clinical Research Staff Award

Priya Roy, MD - Distinguished Clinical Fellow Award

Andy Newland & Phillip Tate - Distinguished Administrative Staff Award

Lorena Rosas, PhD - Post-Doctoral Scholar of the Year Award

Dharti Shantaram - Graduate Student of the Year

Poster Awards

Undergraduate

1st Place - Daniel Koch

2nd Place - Mariam Oueis

3rd Place - Shreya Agarwal

Graduate

1st Place - Jon Fritz

2nd Place - Evangeline Schott

3rd Place - Michael Yaeger

Postdoctoral 

1st Place - Yang Yu, PhD

2nd Place - Elisa Felix Soriano, PhD

3rd Place - Lorena Rosas, PhD

Clinical

1st Place - Karl Shaver, MD

2nd Place - Sarah MacDowell, MD

3rd Place - Andrew Wodarcyk, PhD

Research Staff

1st Place - Sourabh Soni, PhD

2nd Place - Daniel Kasprovic

3rd Place - Patricia McCallinhart, PhD

2023 Research Day 

Research Day Recap

On October 10, 2023, the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute hosted its 18th Annual Research Day, showcasing the latest projects and achievements of its faculty and students. The event featured ~130 poster presentations and talks by researchers from various areas of cardiovascular and lung disease. Dr. John Warner, CEO of the Wexner Medical Center and Executive Vice President of The Ohio State University, gave remarks and the introduction to keynote speaker Anthony Rosenzweig, MD, a renowned expert in identifying novel mechanism and therapeutic targets in heart failure, using the exercised heart to understand heart health. 

Over the past many years, the DHLRI Research Day successes were due, in part, to the unwavering philanthropic support of our friend Charles (Chuck) Webb. Losing a strong advocate of the Institute in June, we pay tribute to his memory and his continuing legacy for his passion of research and social responsibility. His support provided the platform from which to celebrate our best and brightest. 

 

Awards

Distinguished Award Recipients: 

• Lorri Fowler - DHLRI Director's Award
• Orlando Simonetti, PhD - Melissa G. Piper Distinguished Mentor Award
• Yingman Liu, PhD - Distinguished Basic Research Staff Award
• Akash Goyal, MD - Distinguished Clinical Fellow Award
• DeeAnn Willis-Berry - Distinguished Administrative Staff Award
• Tatiana Cuellar Gaviria, PhD - Post-Doctoral Scholar of the Year Award
• Vrishti Phadumdeo - Graduate Student of the Year Award

 

Poster Award Recipients: 

• Sally Diep and Aiden George - 1st Place Undergraduate
• Hank Kern - 2nd Place Undergraduate
• Jeniffer Park - 3rd Place Undergraduate

• Aaron Argall - 1st Place Pre-Doctoral 
• Benjamin Johnson - 2nd Place Pre-Doctoral
• Sarah Sturgill - 3rd Place Pre-Doctoral

• Elisa Felix Soriano, PhD - 1st Place Post-Doctoral
• Paula Agudelo Garcia, PhD - 2nd Place Post-Doctoral
• Jyotsna Joshi, PhD - 3rd Place Post-Doctoral 

• Mithu De, PhD - 1st Place Research Staff
• Ege Kacira - 2nd Place Research Staff
• Magdalena Blaszkiewicz, PhD - 3rd Place Research Staff

• Ian Bentley, MD - 1st Place Clinical Fellow
• Azariyas Challa, MD - 2nd Place Clinical Fellow
• Ashlee Asada, MD - 3rd Place Clinical Fellow

2022 DHLRI Research Day

DHLRI hosted the 17th Annual Research Day on October 19, 2022. Organized by Jenifer Bennett, Research Programs Manager, 2022 Research Day Featured 130 Posters, talks from exceptional trainees, and a highly distinguished keynote talk with a standing room only audience. 

The 2022 DHLRI Research Day Keynote Speaker was Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD. Dr. Wu is the president elect of the American Heart Association, effective July 2022. Dr. Wu is also a physician researcher, Director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor and Professor of Radiology at Stanford University. His research focuses on the biological mechanisms of patient-specific and disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to understand mechanisms of cardiovascular disease, accelerate drug discovery, develop "clinical trials in a dish" technology, and implement precision medicine for cardiovascular patients.