Awards
Peter C. Isakson Mentoring Award
The Isakson Award recognizes young faculty who provide excellent mentoring to their graduate students. This award is made possible thanks to a generous gift from Pharmacology alumnus David Goodman, Ph.D. (class of 1993). Dr. Goodman is the CEO of Pharmascience Inc. and this award honors his Ph.D. mentor, Peter Isakson (former Vice President, Abbott Laboratories). Peter C. Isakson Award recipients include:
Michelle Bland, Asst. Professor, and her student Brittany Martinez.
Bimal Desai, Asst. Professor, and his student Michael Schappe. Michael attended the 2017 Keystone on Pattern Recognition Receptor Signaling: From Innate to Inflammatory Disease (X5) in Banff, Alberta, Canada (March 2017).
Mark Beenhakker, Asst. Professor, and his students Peter Klein and Katie Salvati. Peter and Katie will attend a Gordon Research Conference on Mechanisms of Epilepsy and Neuronal Synchronization in Spain (August 2016).
Thurl Harris, Asst. Professor, and his student Garrett Mullins. Garrett attended the 2015 American Clinical Chemistry Association conference in Atlanta, GA.
Ira Schulman, Assoc. Professor, and his student Sarah Breevoort. Sarah attended the Nuclear Receptor Keystone Symposia in New Mexico (January 2014).
Thurl Harris, Asst. Professor, and his student James Eaton. James attended the “Principles and Applications of Time-resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy” short course in Berlin, Germany.
Chien Li, Asst. Professor, and his student, Jessica Geisler. Jessica experienced a mini-sabbatical at UT Southwestern, where she learned new techniques for her studies of pancreatic β cell function and insulin secretion.
Pharmacology Outstanding Graduate Student & Robert Haynes Award
This award recognizes a graduate student who shows exemplary scientific merit and productivity. The winner of this award is nominated for the Michael J. Peach Award and the Jill Hungerford Prize, both of which are presented at the annual GBS Symposium. Recent winners of the Pharmacology Outstanding Graduate Student Award include:
Claire Ruddiman (Brant Isakson’s Lab)
Mitch Granade (Harris’s Lab)- Mitch also went on to win the Jill E. Hungerford Award in 2022
Adishesh Narahari (Doug Bayliss’s lab)
Matteo Ottolini (Swapnil Sonkusare’s lab)
Michael Schappe (Bimal Desai’s lab); Michael went on to win the 2019 Michael J. Peach Award.
Vlad Serbulea (Norbert Leitinger’s lab); Vlad went on to win the 2018 Michael J. Peach Award.
Sarah Gray (Eugene Barrett’s lab)
Janelle Weaver (Doug Bayliss’s lab)
Marin Healy (Kyle Hoehn’s lab)
James Eaton (Thurl Harris’s lab)
Emily Moser (Tom Braciale’s lab)
Ted W. Rall Award
The Rall Award recognizes an outstanding publication by a Pharmacology Graduate Student. Winners are announced at the Annual Research Retreat and receive a cash prize. Recent recipients include:
Scott Yeudall (Leitinger Lab), for his paper, ‘Macrophage acetyl-CoA carboxylase regulates acute inflammation through control of glucose and lipid metabolism’ published in Science Advances (2022: Volume 8, Issue 47)
Blair Towers (Lynch Lab), for her paper, ‘Sex/Gender Differences in the Time-Course for the Development of Substance Use Disorder: A Focus on the Telescoping Effect’ published in Pharmacological Reviews (2023: Volume 75, Issue 2)
Clint Upchurch (Leitinger Lab), for his paper, “Targeting oxidized phospholipids by AAV-based gene therapy in mice with established hepatic steatosis prevents progression to fibrosis,” published in Science Advances (2022: Volume 8, Issue 28)
Philip Seegren (Desai Lab), for his paper, “Mitochondrial Ca2+ signaling is an electrometabolic switch to fuel phagosome killing,” published in Cell Reports (2020: 33, 108411)
Matteo Ottolini (Sonkusare Lab), for his paper, “Local Peroxynitrite Impairs Endothelial TRPV4 Channels and Elevates Blood Pressure in Obesity,” published in Circulation (2020; 141:1318–1333)
Katelyn Ahern (Harris Lab), for her paper, “Regioisomer-independent Quantification of Fatty Acid Oxidation Products by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS Analysis of Sodium Adducts” published in Scientific Reports (2019; 9: 11197)
Michael Schappe (Desai Lab), for his paper, “Chanzyme TRPM7 mediates Ca2+ Influx Necessary for LPS-induced TLR4 Endocytosis and Macrophage Activation” published in Immunity (2018 Jan; 48 (1): 59-74e5)
Vlad Serbulea (Leitinger Lab), for his paper, “Macrophage Phenotype and Bioenergetics are Controlled by Oxidized Phospholipids Identified in Lean and Obese Adipose Tissue” in PNAS (2018 Jan 03: 115(27): E6254 – E6263)
Janelle Weaver (Bayliss Lab), for her paper, “Hematopoietic pannexin 1 function is critical for neuropathic pain” published in Sci. Rep. (2017 Feb 14; 7: 42550)
Samantha Adamson (Leitinger lab), for her paper, “Disabled homolog 2 controls macrophage phenotypic polarization and adipose tissue inflammation” published in J Clin Invest. (2016 Apr 1; 126(4): 1311–1322).
Garrett Mullins (Harris lab), for his paper, “Catecholamine-Induced Lipolysis Inhibits Glucose Uptake and Causes mTOR Complex Dissociation in Adipocytes” published in PNAS (111(49): 17450–17455, 2014)
Brandon Kenwood (Hoehn lab), for his paper, “Identification of a Novel Mitochondrial Uncoupler that Does Not Depolarize the Plasma Membrane” published in Molecular Metabolism (3(2): 114-123, 2013)
Sarah Breevoort (Schulman lab), for her paper, “Liver LXR&alpha Expression is Crucial for Whole Body Homeostasis and Reverse Cholesterol Transport in Mice” published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (122: 1688-1699, 2012).
Perry Kennedy (Lynch lab), for his paper, “Characterization of a Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptor Antagonist Prodrug” was published in The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (Vol. 338, 879-889, 2011).
Best Predoctoral/Postdoctoral Retreat Presentation
Each year at our Annual Research Retreat, we recognize the best presentations by Predoctoral and Postdoctoral trainees with a cash prize. From 2011-2015, this was named the Robert Haynes Award. In 2016, the Pharmacology Graduate Committee returned the named Haynes Award to providing support an outstanding graduate student (the Award’s original intent). Recent winners of the Best Retreat Presentation include:
Predoctoral: Blair Towers (Lynch Lab)
Predoctoral: Mike Lemke (Harris Lab)
Predoctoral: Catherine Doyle (Desai Lab)
Postdoctoral: Vlad Serbulea (Owen Lab)
Predoctoral: Elizabeth (Liz) Gonye (Bayliss Lab)
Predoctoral: Mitch Granade (Harris Lab)
Predoctoral: Kathryn “Katie” Salvati (Beenhakker Lab)
Predoctoral: Caroline Franks (Hsu lab) and Dorian Rosen (Gaultier Lab)
Postdoctoral: Yu-Hsin “Eva” Chiu (Bayliss Lab) and Joshua Drake (Yan Lab)
Predoctoral: Michael Schappe (Desai lab)
Postdoctoral: Vidisha Raje (Harris lab)
Predoctoral: Kelley McQueeney (Lazo lab)
Postdoctoral: Yingtang Shi (Bayliss lab)
Predoctoral: Garrett Mullins (Harris lab)
Postdoctoral: Rhianna Laker (Yan lab)
Predoctoral: Garrett Mullins (Harris lab)
Postdoctoral: Peter Burke (Guyenet lab) and Irena Ignatova-Todorovic (Schulman lab)
Predoctoral: Jessica Geisler (Li lab) and Sarah Breevoort (Schulman lab)
Postdoctoral: Rhianna Laker (Zhen Yan’s lab)
Predoctoral: Joanna Sandilos (Bayliss lab) and Katie Barletta (Linden/Mehrad labs)
Postdoctoral: Stephen Abbott (Guyenet lab) and Rachel Griffiths (Leitinger lab)
Best Poster Presentation
Each year at our Annual Research Retreat, we recognize the best poster presentation with a cash prize. Recent winners of the Best Poster Presentation include:
Catherine Doyle (Pharm Student, Desai Lab) and Yingtang Shi (Research Professor, Bayliss Lab)
Synphane Gibbs (Pharm Student, Ukpong Lab) and Miyuki Suzawa (Lab Specialist, Bland Lab)
Mitch Granade (Pharm Student, Harris Lab) and George Souza (Research Scientist, Abbott Lab)
Elizabeth Gonye (Pharm Student, Bayliss Lab), Matteo Otolini (Pharm Student, Sonkusare Lab) and Yingtang Shi (Research Scientist, Bayliss Lab)
Marta Stremska (Pharm Student, Desai Lab) and Miyuki Suzawa – (Lab Spec, Bland Lab)
Michael Schappe (Pharm Student, Desai Lab) and Vlad Serbulea – (Pharm Student, Leitinger Lab)
Nigel Muhammad (Lab Tech, Bland Lab) and Suresh Mendu – (Research Assoc, Desai Lab)