2014 RESEARCH AWARDEES

The ATS Foundation is pleased to announce the grant and award recipients for the 2014-2015 grant cycle. The support of our members, donors, and partners helps make these awards possible—thank you! These grants and awards provide crucial support for talented investigators from around the world, launching careers dedicated to scientific discovery and better patient care. The awardees explore such diverse topics as lung cancer, asthma, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, COPD, sleep apnea, and more.
Partner Grants
The ATS Foundation partners with other nonprofit organizations and pharmaceutical companies to maximize the number of grants that we can support. The ATS reviews all grants and assumes all costs associated with administrating the grants.



Ankit Desai, MD University of Arizona 2014 ATS Foundation/Pulmonary Hypertension Association Research Fellowship - $80,000 Enhanced Risk Profiles of Sickle Cell-related Pulmonary Hypertension-Integrating Genomics & Imaging		Monica Goldklang, MD Columbia University 2014 ATS Foundation/Alpha-1 Foundaton Research Grant - $80,000 The Role of MMP-13 in COPD Exacerbations and Implications on Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Activity


Alexander Misharin, MD, PhD Northwestern University 2014 ATS Foundation/Scleroderma Foundation Research Grant - $80,000 Alternative Activation of Lung Macrophages and the Development of Scleroderma-related Lung Fibrosis		Fiona Murray, PhD University of Aberdeen, Scotland 2014 ATS Foundation/Pulmonary Hypertension Association Proof of Concept Research Grant – $40,000 A Novel G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) Target in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension


Harry Rossiter, PhD LA Biomed Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 2014 ATS Foundation/Breathe California of Los Angeles Research Grant - $80,000 Pulmonary Rehabilitation Responsiveness in an Underserved Population		Nathan Sandbo, MD University of Wisconsin - Madison 2014 ATS Foundation/Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation/Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Grant - $100,000 Mechanisms Facilitating Enhanced Fibronectin Assembly by Myofibroblasts


Avelino Verceles, MD University of Maryland 2014 ATS Foundation/AAIM-ASP Career Development Award in Geriatrics – $25,000 The Multimodal Rehabilitation of Older Ventilated Survivors of Critical Illness


ATS Foundation Unrestricted Research Grants - $40,000
The ATS Foundation funds unrestricted research grants representing the three pillars of the American Thoracic Society: pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Awards span basic, clinical, and translational research in adult and pediatric medicine. Applicants consdier how their research will provide novel approaches to challenging lung diseases, foster health care equality, and improve patient outcomes.


Yael Aschner, MD University of Colorado Denver 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Pulmonary Regulation of TGF-beta Responsiveness in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Fibrosis		Jessie Bakker, PhD Brigham & Women’s Hospital; Harvard Medical School 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Sleep Group-based Peer-support to Maximize Adherence to CPAP


Xiaoyong Bao, PhD The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Pulmonary Respiratory Syncytial Virus Utilizes a tRNA 5’-end Fragment to Suppress the Host Antiviral Response		Merry-Lynn McDonald, PhD Brigham and Women’s Hospital 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Pulmonary Gene Expression and Metabolomics of Muscle Wasting in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder


Amy Pastva, PhD Duke University 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Critical Care Early Rehabilitation in Critical Care: Supine Cycling and Functional Electrical Stimulation		Angela Rogers, MD, MPH Stanford University 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Critical Care Metabolic Response to Acute Injury in Alveolar Epithelium and ARDS


Ursula Smole, PhD Bloomberg School of Public Health 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Pulmonary The Danger Receptor FPR2 Controls the Initiation of Allergic Immune Responses		Jennifer Wambach, MD, MS Washington University School of Medicine 2014 ATS Foundation Unrestricted Grant: Pulmonary Mechanisms of Surfactant Dysfunction Among Infants with ABCA3 Mutations


ATS Foundation Recognition Awards for Outstanding Early Career Investigators - $40,000
ATS Foundation Recognition Awards for Outstanding Early Career Investigators provides critical funding for early-career investigators who submitted outstanding applications that were close to, but just missed, the NIH grant payline. The awards provide young investigators protected time to improve their NIH applications to successfully compete for a K or R award and to pursue other major grants.


Robert Guzy, MD, PhD Washington University School of Medicine 2014 ATS Foundation Recognition Award for Outstanding Early Career Investigators - $40,000 Mechanism of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2-Mediated Alveolar Epithelial Repair		Praveen Mannam, MD Yale University 2014 ATS Foundation Recognition Award for Outstanding Early Career Investigators - $40,000 Mitochondrial Quality Control as a Therapeutic Target in Sepsis


Nuala Meyer, MD, MS University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine 2014 ATS Foundation Recognition Award for Outstanding Early Career Investigators - $40,000 Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist in ARDS: from Gene to Function		Xavier Soler, MD, PhD University of California, San Diego 2014 ATS Foundation Recognition Award for Outstanding Early Career Investigators - $40,000 Pathophysiology of Obstructive Sleep Apnea affecting COPD: the Overlap Syndrome


Neeta Thakur, MD, MPH University of California, San Francisco 2014 ATS Foundation Recognition Award for Outstanding Early Career Investigators - $40,000 Allostatic Load and Asthma: Chronic Stress and Asthma in Minority Children		Yong Zhou, PhD, MSc University of Alabama at Birmingham 2014 ATS Foundation Recognition Award for Outstanding Early Career Investigators - $40,000 The Role of Biomechanical Signaling in Lung Fibrosis


MECOR Research Awards - $5,000
ATS Foundation MECOR Research Awards provide funding for graduates of the ATS Methods in Epidemiological, Clinical, and Operational Research (MECOR) program to allow them to transition from trainees to investigators. MECOR graduates hail from developing countries around the globe, including, Africa, Latin America, China, India, Indonesia, Turkey, and Vietnam. Learn more about MECOR.


Michael Iroezindu, MD, MPH, FWACP, FMCP College of Medicine, University of Nigeria 2014 ATS Foundation MECOR Award - $5,000 The Burden of Severe Sepsis in Nigeria: Incidence, Mortality, Prognostic Factors, and Cost of Care		Godsent Isiguzo, MD Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki 2014 ATS Foundation MECOR Award - $5,000 Social Support and Tuberculosis Outcome


Herve Lawin, MD University of Abomey Calavi 2014 ATS Foundation MECOR Award - $5,000 Biomass Fuel Use and Respiratory Health in Rural and Urban Homes in Seme Podji, Benin		Violet Ongaya, PhD, MSc Kenya Medical Research Institute 2014 ATS Foundation MECOR Award - $5,000 Effects of HIV infection on the Antibacterial Function of Memory cd8+t Cells Specific to m.Tb ag


Grants-for-Hire Program
ATS contracts with organizations to provide grant services, providing administrative support and performing a rigorous scientific review for the organization’s research program. In return for these services, the ATS Foundation receives a fee that is funneled back into research grants, maximizing the number of research grants that can be awarded each year.


Frances de Man, PhD VU University Medical Center Amsterdam 2014 PHA Proof of Concept Research Grant - $40,000 A New Tool to Obtain Novel Insights in PAH-Induced Right Heart Failure?		Marc de Perrot, MD University Healthy Network 2014 PHA Proof of Concept Research Grant - $40,000 Photodynamic Therapy for the Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension


Daniel Fox, MD University of Colorado 2014 PHA Proof of Concept Research Grant - $40,000 SSc-PAH Risk Score:Early Identification of Scleroderma-associated PAH by RV Strain, GDF-15, & IL7r		Rebecca Kameny, MD University of California, San Francisco The Robyn Barst, Pediatric PH Research and Mentoring Grant - $50,000 Right Ventricular Performance in Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension and Congenital Heart Disease