Faculty Awards (continued)
Cincinnati Children's celebrated outstanding faculty members on February 17. Congratulations to our honorees and to all who were nominated by their peers.
Basic Science Research Achievement Award
Douglas Millay, PhD
Division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology
Doug Millay, PhD, is an associate professor in the Division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology. Since joining Cincinnati Children's eight years ago, Doug has published 15 senior author manuscripts from his laboratory in high-impact journals. As a postdoctoral fellow, he published a paper in "Nature" that redefined the field of skeletal muscle biology, deciphering the genes underlying myoblast fusion to make myofibers developmentally. Doug has a field-leading research program on this same biologic system where he is considered a world-renowned authority.
Doug was a Pew Scholar and has four NIH grants as principal investigator or co-PI, one of which is a prestigious RISK grant from the NIH that is only awarded to the most innovative projects. This collective level of funding places Doug in the top 1% of all junior faculty in the US. He also has a sponsored research agreement for $1.5 million over five years with Sana Pharmaceuticals.
Doug is a highly active investigator with a hands-on mentoring approach with his trainees, which has created a positive environment in his laboratory that ensures continued recruitment of the best trainees and ongoing research excellence.
Basic Science Research Achievement Award
John Hogenesch, PhD
Division of Human Genetics
John Hogenesch, PhD, research director in the Division of Human Genetics, and director of the Circadian Biology program, is widely considered a visionary and true scientific leader in human genetics.
His collective work on the molecular biology underlying the circadian clock in mice is so significant that he was in consideration when the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for the circadian clock in 2017. John discovered the clock transcriptional regulator BMAL1 and then went on to dissect the role of this gene and many others in mice using genetics and gene-deletion strategies. His contribution as the first researcher to establish the relevance of the circadian clock in mammals was so important that the "New York Times" magazine published an in-depth article on the circadian clock and John, highlighting the medical relevance of his work.
John was a major voice in designing the lighting system in the neonatal intensive care unit in the new Critical Care Building at Cincinnati Children's, and he went on to directly demonstrate the medical importance of timing patient feeding based on their circadian clock.
Clinical/Translational Research Achievement Award
Stephen Becker, PhD
Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology
Stephen Becker, PhD, has emerged as an international leader in identifying and elucidating a new behavioral health disorder—Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT).
Few research faculty have distinguished themselves by conducting research that defines a new diagnostic area, but as associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology (BMCP), Stephen has become the single greatest authority on SCT in the world. He has provided numerous, significant and seminal contributions to this field—far more than any other clinical scientist with 205 peer-reviewed publications, 17 book chapters and a recently published book as sole editor entitled "ADHD in Adolescents: Development, Assessment and Treatment." His research has recently led to the creation of a clinical service line for SCT at Cincinnati Children's, which is offered to families nationally via telehealth.
As the director of research in BMCP, Stephen mentors more than 25 investigators who have a research funding portfolio of $13 million. He typically oversees about 30 grant applications per year with an 82% success rate, and Stephen's scientific leadership is a key driver of this remarkable track record.
Clinical/Translational Research Achievement Award
E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens, MD, PhD
Department of Emergency Medicine
Melinda Mahabee-Gittens, MD, PhD, is a world leader in tobacco-related research in vulnerable populations of children, adolescents and adults. Her research has focused on adolescent tobacco prevention, pediatric tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) reduction and parental tobacco cessation interventions, and the collection of biological and environmental samples and secondary data analysis to assess the effects of secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure among children. Her work has received continuous funding from NIH since 2006 ($10.3 million to date), which places her as a top performer in pediatric emergency medicine.
Melinda's research is the first to show that thirdhand smoke is ubiquitous in children's environments. These findings and collection techniques used in her research are defining new standards for TSE measurement of young children. Her work has advanced the understanding of the multiple TSE exposure pathways and their clinical effects on children.
Melinda is also committed to mentoring and training the next generation of researchers and leaders. She has formally mentored more than 25 trainees and faculty, who have collectively published 260 peer-reviewed articles and been awarded more than 53 grants.
Service Achievement Award
Philip Hagedorn, MD, MBI
Department of Information Services
Phil Hagedorn, MD, MBI, combines medical and technical expertise as an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Divisions of Hospital Medicine and Biomedical Informatics, program director of the Clinical Informatics fellowship training program, and chief informatics officer in the Department of Information Services.
He has successfully led numerous informatics projects, including the design and implementation of institution-wide MyChart messaging, which was a technical challenge and cultural shift that led to increased access for patients and families. Phil also led an interdisciplinary team that designed and implemented safety strategies regarding clinical communications in Cincinnati Children's secure text messaging platform. This work has led to the publication and sharing of best practices nationally.
Phil also directs efforts to improve how researchers use, store and draw conclusions from the many massive and growing datasets at Cincinnati Children's. And because of his informatics expertise, in early 2020, Phil conducted contact tracing for a possible tuberculosis exposure, poring over data to identify relevant information to keep patients safe. This work served as a model for similar efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Service Achievement Award
Diana Lindquist, PhD
Department of Radiology
Diana Lindquist, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Radiology, joined Cincinnati Children's in 2006, serving continuously as the founding director of the Vivo Microimaging Laboratory—a core resource within the Imaging Research Center (IRC). Every UC or Cincinnati Children's researcher who has used micro-CT, preclinical MR spectroscopy or MRI has benefited directly from Diana's technical expertise and efforts to maintain and expand Cincinnati Children's preclinical imaging infrastructure.
When a cyclotron was under construction to produce novel Positron Emission Tomography agents, Diana volunteered her expertise as a physical scientist to develop research capabilities around this game-changing resource.
Diana chaired the IRC's Scientific Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2011 and served on the committee until it was replaced with the Radiology Research Utilization Committee (RRUC). Diana served as the founding RRUC chair and has continued to serve on the committee. Diana singlehandedly designed the RRUC's intricate, but seamless intake form—an essential first step for all radiology research projects. Thus, every such research project at Cincinnati Children's—whether basic, translational or clinical; prospective or retrospective—has been facilitated by Diana's efforts.