The Pulmonary Hypertension Association is proud to recognize the scientists and clinicians advancing PH research through PHA-funded awards. Their work reflects PHA’s commitment to accelerating progress and improving outcomes for the entire PH community.
2025
Health Disparities in PH
Jude Moutchia, MD, MPH, MS
Data Scientist, Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program, University of Pennsylvania
“Epidemiology and Treatment Heterogeneity of PAH in the U.S.”
Innovation in Research
Jake Brenner, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor & Attending Physician, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Pennsylvania
“DNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles (DNA-LNPs) for pulmonary hypertension.”
Pediatric Grant
Ripla Arora, PhD
Developmental Geneticist and Associate Professor, Michigan State University
“Mechanisms underlying developmental lung disease in a TBX4 syndrome model”
Kate Enzer, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, University of Colorado
“Pulmonary Ventilation and Perfusion with Electrical Impedance Tomography”
2024
Early Career Mentored Scientist Award
Lindsay “Shelley” Forbes, MD
Instructor, Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
“Mediators of Right Ventricular Dysfunction Among Patients with PH-COPD”
Health Disparities in PH Grant
Neil Kelly, MD
Physician-Scientist, Division of Cardiology, University of Pittsburgh and Veterans Affairs, Pittsburgh Healthcare System
“Pollution-associated metabolites as drivers of pulmonary hypertension in populations with health disparities”
Innovation in PH Research Award
Sanjeev Datar, MD
Professor, Pediatrics Associate Director, Physician-Scientist Career Development Program (PSCDP), The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco
“A Large Animal Model of Heritable PAH: Generating BMPR2 Heterozygous Sheep”
Pediatric Research Award
Aimee M. Layton, PhD
Associate Professor of Applied Physiology (in Pediatrics), Director of the Pediatric Cardiology Cardiopulmonary Exercise Laboratory, Columbia University Medical Center
“Telerehabilitation to Improve Fear and Anxiety in Adolescents with PAH”
2023
Early Career Mentored Scientist Award
Roopa Siddaiah, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatric Pulmonology, Penn State College of Medicine
“Predictors of Pulmonary Hypertension Associated Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia”
Innovation in PH Research Award
Ke Yuan, PhD
Associate Scientific Researcher and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital Division of Pulmonary Medicine
“Perivascular cells contribute to flow-included PH”
Adam Andruska, MD
Instructor, Department of Medicine, Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Stanford University School of Medicine
“T-cell vascular signaling as a therapeutic target for PAH”
2022
Innovation in PH Research Award
Csaba Galambos, MD, PhD
Director, Pediatric Pulmonary Research and Investigator, Pediatric Heart Lung Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado
“The role of bronchial circulation in pulmonary hypertension”
Aldrighetti Research Award for Young Investigators
Catherine Simpson, MD
Assistant Professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
“Compartment-specific kynurenine pathway metabolism in PAH”
Pediatric Research Award
Paul Critser, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
“Pulmonary vascular development in BPD associated PH”
2020
Aldrighetti Research Award for Young Investigators
Vineet Agrawal, MD
Instructor, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC)
“TGF-beta Receptor 3 as a Novel Mediator of Endothelial Metabolism in PAH”
2019
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Rahul Kumar, PhD
Associate Professional Researcher, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center at University of California, San Francisco
“Crosstalk Between Bone Marrow Compartment and Inflamed Lungs in Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension”
Learn more in the article “Research Fellow to Study How Inflammation Contributes to PH.”
Olivier Boucherat, PhD
Professor, Pneumology, L’Université Laval
b“Forkhead-box FOX) Transcription Factors in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Nadine Al-Naamani, MD, MS
Instructor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
“Effect of obesity on treatment response in pulmonary arterial hypertension”
Barst Fund Award
Jason Boehme, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco
“Pulmonary Vascular Smooth Muscle Metabolic Reprogramming in Congenital Heart Disease”
Aldrighetti Research Award for Young Investigators
Ke Yuan, PhD
Associate Scientific Researcher and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital Division of Pulmonary Medicine
“SDF1 Signaling: A Master Regulator of Mural Cell-Dependent Vascular Remodeling in PAH”
2018
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Soban Umar, MD
Assistant Professor-in-Residence, University of California, Los Angeles
“miR-125b as a Novel Therapeutic Target in Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Pulmonary Fibrosis”
Barst Fund Award
Michael L. O’Byrne, MD, MSCE
London A. Lotarski Pediatric PH Research & Mentoring, Assistant Professor – CE (Pediatrics), The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
“Multidimensional evaluation of health-related quality of life in pediatric pulmonary hypertension”
Aldrighetti Research Award for Young Investigators
Zhiyu Dai, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Northwestern University, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
“Role of Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition on Vascular Fibrosis in PAH”
2017
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Andrew John Sweatt, MD
Instructor of Medicine, Stanford University
“Deep immunophenotyping of pulmonary arterial hypertension by unsupervised machine learning”
Aldrighetti Research Award for Young Investigators
Nadine Al-Naamani, MD, MS
Instructor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
“Effect of obesity on treatment response in pulmonary arterial hypertension”
2016
PHA Proof of Concept Award Winners
Kazuyo Kegan, PhD
Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
“Illuminating AMPK function in crosstalk between Insulin Resistance and Pulmonary Hypertension”
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Farbod Rahaghi, MD, PhD
Instructor, Pulmonary and Critical Care, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
“CT Imaging Markers of Pulmonary Arterial and Venous Remodeling in Pulmonary Hypertension”
Barst Fund Award
Meghan Bernier, MD
T32 Research Fellow, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
“LOX-1: A Therapeutic Target for Pulmonary Hypertension in Lung Endothelium”
Rachel Hopper, MD
Attending Physician, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
“Comprehensive Analysis of Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia”
Sheila Krishnan, DO
Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow, Indiana University
“Hypoxia-dependent Epigenetic Modifications in the Pulmonary Vasculature”
Aldrighetti Research Award for Young Investigators
Olivier Boucherat, PhD
Professor, Pneumology, L’Université Laval
“Forkhead-box (FOX) transcription factors in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
PHA Proof of Concept Award Winners
Ke Yuan, PhD
“The role of lung pericytes as a source of occluding pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells in PAH”
Stanford University
Soban Umar, MD, PhD
“Y Chromosome confers protection against pulmonary arterial hypertension”
University of California Los Angeles
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
William M. Oldham, MD, PhD
“Metabolic Flux Analysis in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Barst Fund Award
David Brian Frank, MD, PhD
“Wnt signaling progenitor cells in late lung development, regeneration, and repair”
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Vitaly Oleg Kheyfets, PhD
“The Cause and Effect of Decreased Wall Shear Stress in Pediatric Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus
Kara Nicole Goss, MD
“Right ventricular-pulmonary vascular interactions following postnatal hyperoxia exposure”
University of Wisconsin
PHA Proof of Concept Award Winners
Daniel L. Fox, MD
“SSc-PAH Risk Score: Early Identification of Scleroderma-associated PAH by RV Strain, GDF-15 & IL&r”
University of Colorado Denver
Frances S. de Man, PhD
“A New Tool to Obtain Novel Insights in PAH-Induced Right Heart Failure”
VU University Medical Center Amsterdam
Fiona Murray, PhD
“A novel G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) target in pulmonary arterial hypertension”
University of Aberdeen, UK
Marc de Perrot, MD, MSc
“Photodynamic therapy for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension”
University of Toronto, Canada
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Ankit A. Desai, MD
“Enhanced risk profiles of sickle cell-related pulmonary hypertension – integrating genomics & imaging”
University of Arizona
Barst Fund Award
Rebecca Johnson Kameny, MD
“Right Ventricular Performance in Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension and Congenital Heart Disease”
University of California, San Francisco
PHA Proof of Concept Award Winners
Evan L. Brittain, MD
“Cardiac Steatosis and Right Ventricular Failure in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Jiwang Chen, PhD
“Role of IL7/IL7R in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
University of Illinois at Chicago
Kylie M. Drake, PhD
“Pharmacological Correction of BMP Signaling by Read-Through in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
The Cleveland Clinic
Nicole M. Pohl, PhD
“Role of miR-181b in the Regulation of TRPC6 and the Development of Pulmonary Hypertension”
University of Illinois at Chicago
Yen-Rei Yu, MD, PhD
“The Role of Resident Monocytes in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Duke University School of Medicine
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Brian Graham, MD
“Determining the impact of IL6 signaling in inflammation-induced pulmonary hypertension”
University of Colorado Denver
Barst Fund Award
Melanie Nies, MD
“Pulmonary Hypertension Biomarkers”
Johns Hopkins University
Mehdi Fini, MD
“Role of Xanthine Oxidoreductase-Uric Acid Axis in Hypoxia Induced Pulmonary Hypertension”
University of Colorado Denver
PHA Proof of Concept Award Winners
Michael Yeager, PhD
“Unfolded Protein Response Confers Apoptosis Resistance and Inflammation in Pulmonary Hypertension”
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Guofei Zhou, PhD
“AMPK and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
University of Illinois College of Medicine
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Eric Austin, MD, MSCI
“Integrative Genomic Approach to Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
PHA Proof of Concept Award Winners
Mary Beth Brown, PhD, PT, ATC
“Clinical Investigation of a Daily Walking Program plus L-Arginine Supplementation for the Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Indiana University
Ferhaan Ahmad, MD, PhD
“Applying Genomics as a Springboard to Novel Mechanisms of Pulmonary Hypertension”
University of Pittsburgh
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Kazuyo Kegan, PhD
“Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 mediates Th2 immune response during development of pulmonary hypertension”
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Won Kyung Cho, PhD
“The Role of IL-13 in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Yale University School of Medicine
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Laura E. Fredenburgh, MD
“Oncogene Mutational Profiling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Tim Lahm, MD
“Estrogen Metabolism and Autophagy in Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension”
Indiana University
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Ari Zaiman, MD, PhD
“Inhibition of TGF Beta Signaling in Endothelial Cells: Role in Pulmonary Hypertension”
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Lunyin Yu, MD
“Role of NHE1 Gene in Development of Pulmonary Hypertension and Vascular Remodeling”
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Kewal Asosingh, PhD
“Role of Pulmonary Vascular Wall Resident Endothelial Progenitors and Circulating Bone Marrow-Derived Angiogenic Precursors in Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension”
Cleveland Clinic
Qing Lu, DVM, PhD
“TGF-beta1 and Pulmonary Artery Hypertension”
Brown University
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Namasivayam Ambalavanan, MBBS, MD
“Transforming Growth Factor-β and Effects of Hypoxia on the Newborn Lung”
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Arlin Brice Blood, PhD
“The Interaction of Nitric Oxide and Hemoglobin in Regulation of Pulmonary Vascular Tone”
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
PHA/ATS Research Fellowship
Xinqi Wu, PhD
“Hypoxic Regulation of BMP Signaling and the Role of Id1 in the Development of Pulmonary Hypertension”
Children’s Hospital Boston
Todd Bull, MD
“The Role of Kaposi’s Sarcoma Herpesvirus in the Development of Severe Pulmonary Hypertension”
University of Colorado