Outstanding Paper by an Associate Member Award

The Outstanding Paper by an Associate Member was established in 2016. It was created to recognize the exceptional research being accomplished by PRS Associate Members – many of whom previously participated in the PRS pre-meeting Young Investigator Grant Writing Workshop. It accomplishes the goals of increasing communication between younger Associate Members and the membership at large, as well as raising awareness of career progress of these young investigators. Additionally, the prize for each paper is drawn from the PRS members’ Educational fund.

Criteria & Eligibility

The prize is awarded annually to three Associate Members (one in each track) for the most outstanding published paper during the previous year, as determined by the PRS Council. Each award recipient will be awarded free registration for the following PRS Annual Meeting.

  • Recipient must be a first or last author on the manuscript
  • Manuscript must have been published in the current year or previous year
  • Accepted, but not yet published papers will NOT qualify

Current Award Recipients

2023

Kaela Varberg, PhD – Basic Science Track

Varberg KM, Dominguez EM, Koseva B, Varberg JM, McNally RP, Moreno-Irusta A, Wesley ER, Iqbal K, Cheung WA, Schwendinger-Schreck C, Smail C, Okae H, Arima T, Lydic M, Holoch K, Marsh C, Soares MJ, Grundberg E. Nat Commun. Extravillous trophoblast cell lineage development is associated with active remodeling of the chromatin landscape. 2023 Aug 10;14(1):4826. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40424-5. PMID: 37563143 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37563143/

2023

Sarah Wernimont, MD, PhD – Obstetrics Track

Mahr RM, Jena S, Nashif SK, Nelson AB, Rauckhorst AJ, Rome FI, Sheldon RD, Hughey CC, Puchalska P, Gearhart MD, Taylor EB, Crawford PA, Wernimont SAMitochondrial citrate metabolism and efflux regulate BeWo differentiation. Sci Rep. 2023 May 6;13(1):7387. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-34435-x. PMID: 37149697 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37149697/

2023

Elizabeth Yen, MD – Pediatrics Track

Yen E, Madan N, Tarui T, Kaneko-Tarui T, Breeze JL, Davis JM, Maron JL. Sex-specific inflammatory and white matter effects of prenatal opioid exposure: a pilot study. Pediatr Res. 2023 Feb;93(3):604-611. doi: 10.1038/s41390-022-02357-5. Epub 2022 Oct 24. PMID: 36280708 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36280708/

Past Award Recipients

2022

Eileen Chang, PhD – Basic Science Track

Chang EI, Hetrick B, Wesolowski SR, McCurdy CE, Rozance PJ, Brown LD. A Two-Week Insulin Infusion in Intrauterine Growth Restricted Fetal Sheep at 75% Gestation Increases Skeletal Myoblast Replication but Did Not Restore Muscle Mass or Increase Fiber Number. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021 Nov 30;12:785242. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.785242. eCollection 2021.PMID: 34917036 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8670988/

2022

Ariel Salas, MD – Pediatrics Track

Salas AA, Jerome M, Finck A, Razzaghy J, Chandler-Laney P, Carlo WA. Body composition of extremely preterm infants fed protein-enriched, fortified milk: a randomized trial. Pediatr Res. 2022 Apr;91(5):1231-1237. doi: 10.1038/s41390-021-01628-x. Epub 2021 Jun 28.PMID: 34183770 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8237544/

2022

Vivek Shukla, MD – Pediatrics Track

Shukla VV, Bann CM, Ramani M, Ambalavanan N, Peralta-Carcelen M, Hintz SR, Higgins RD, Natarajan G, Laptook AR, Shankaran S, Carlo WA. Predictive Ability of 10-Minute Apgar Scores for Mortality and Neurodevelopmental Disability. Pediatrics. 2022 Apr 1;149(4):e2021054992. doi: 10.1542/peds.2021-054992.PMID: 35296895 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35296895/

2021

Elizabeth Enninga, PhD – Basic Science Track

Enninga EAL, Raber P, Quinton RA, Ruano R, Ikumi N, Gray CM, Johnson EL, Chakraborty R, Kerr SE. Maternal T Cells in the Human Placental Villi Support an Allograft Response during Noninfectious Villitis. J Immunol. 2020 Jun 1;204(11):2931-2939. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1901297. Epub 2020 Apr 22. PMID: 32321754; PMCID: PMC7307888 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7307888/

2021

Beth Pineles, MD, PhD – OB/GYN Track

Pineles B, Mani A, Sura L, Rossignol C, Albayram M, Weiss MD, Goetzl L. Neuronal exosome proteins: novel biomarkers for predicting neonatal response to therapeutic hypothermia. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2021 May 21:fetalneonatal-2020-321096. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2020-321096. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34021027 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34021027/

2021

Sarah Cilvik, MD PhD – Pediatric Track

Cilvik SN, Wesolowski SR, Anthony RV, Brown LD, Rozance PJ. Late gestation fetal hyperglucagonaemia impairs placental function and results in diminished fetal protein accretion and decreased fetal growth. J Physiol. 2021 Jul;599(13):3403-3427. doi: 10.1113/JP281288. Epub 2021 May 10. PMID: 33878802; PMCID: PMC8249343 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8249343/

2019

Chi Zhou, PhD – Basic Science Track

Chi Zhou, Qin Yan, Qing-Yun Zou, Xin-Qi Zhong, Chanel T. Tyler, Ronald R. Magness, Ian M. Bird, Jing Zheng. Sexual Dimorphisms of Preeclampsia-Dysregulated Transcriptomic Profiles and Cell Function in Fetal Endothelial Cells. Hypertension. 2019 Jul;74(1):154-163. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.118.12569. Epub 2019 Jun 3. PMID: 31154903; PMCID: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31154903/ PMC6561818.

2019

Jacquelin Parchem, MD – OB/GYN Track

Parchem JG, Kanasaki K, Kanasaki M, Sugimoto H, Xie L, Hamano Y, Lee SB, Gattone VH, Parry S, Strauss JF, Garovic VD, McElrath TF, Lu KH, Sibai BM, LeBleu VS, Carmeliet P, Kalluri R. Loss of placental growth factor ameliorates maternal hypertension and preeclampsia in mice. J Clin Invest. 2018 Nov 1;128(11):5008-5017. doi: 10.1172/JCI99026. Epub 2018 Oct 8. PMID: 30179860; PMCID: PMC6205389 https://mayoclinic.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/loss-of-placental-growth-factor-ameliorates-maternal-hypertension

2019

Amy Hair – Pediatric Track

Ford SL, Lohmann P, Preidis GA, Gordon PS, O’Donnell A, Hagan J, Venkatachalam A, Balderas M, Luna RA, Hair AB. Improved feeding tolerance and growth are linked to increased gut microbial community diversity in very-low-birth-weight infants fed mother’s own milk compared with donor breast milk. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019 Apr 1;109(4):1088-1097. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqz006. PMID: 30982856; PMCID: PMC6462428 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30982856/

2018

Elaine Shelton, PhD – Basic Science Track

Shelton EL, Waleh N, Plosa EJ, Benjamin JT, Milne, GL, Hopper CW, Ehinger N, Poole S, Brown N, Seidner S, McCurnin D, Reese J, Clyman RI. Effects of antenatal betamethasone on preterm human and mouse ductus arteriosus: comparison with baboon data. Pediatric Research. 2018 July6. doi: 10.1038/s41390-018-0006-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41390-018-0006-z PMID: 29976969

2018

Karen Gibbins, MD – OB/Gyn Track

Gibbins KJ, Gibson-Corley KN, Brown AS, Wieben M, Law RC, Fung CM. Effects of excess thromboxane A2 on placental development and nutrient transporters in a Mus muscles model of fetal growth restriction. Bill Retrod.2018 May 1; 98(5):695-704. dos: 10.1093/biolre/ioy006 https://academic.oup.com/biolreprod/article/98/5/695/4813325 PMID: 29351577

2018

David McCulley, MD – Pediatric Track

McCulley DJ, Wienhold MD, Hines EA, Hacker TA, Rogers A, Pewowaruk RJ, Zewdu R, Chesler NC, Selleri L, Sun X. PBX transcription factors drive pulmonary vascular adaptation to birth. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2018 Feb 1;128(2):655-667. doi: 10.1172/JCI93395 https://www.jci.org/articles/view/93395 PMID: 29251627.

2017

Abbie Johnson, PhD – Basic Science Track

Johnson AC – Nagle KJ – Tremble SM – Cipolla MJ. The Contribution of Normal Pregnancy to Eclampsia. Published in PLoS ONE July 28 2015; 10(7): e0133953 10.1371/journal.pone.0133953 PMID: 26218425

2017

Robert Dietz, MD – Pediatric Track

RM Dietz – G Deng – JE Orfila – X Hui – RJ Traystman – PS Herson. Therapeutic hypothermia protects against ischemia-induced impairment of synaptic plasticity following juvenile cardiac arrest in sex-dependent manner. 0306-4522/c 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Neuroscience 2016-06 – 14 – Volume 325 – Pages 132-141 – Copyright 2016 IBRO 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.03.052 PMID: 27033251

2017

Erin Zinkhan, MD – Pediatric Track

R. Blair Dodson – Thomas A. Miller – Kyle Powers – Yueqin Yang – Baifeng Yu – Kurt H. Alberting – Erin K. Zinkhan. Intrauterine growth restriction influences vascular remodeling and stiffening in the Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 412 (2015) 73-84.weanling rat more than sex or diet. Am J Physio Hearth Circ Physiol 312: H250-H264 – 2017. First published November 23 2016; doi: 10.1152/ajppheart.00610.2016 10.1152/ajpheart.00610.2016 PMID: 27881387

2016

Derek Boeldt, PhD – Basic Science Track

Derek S. Boeldt – Mary A. Grummer – FuXian Yi – Ronald R. Magness – Ian M. Bird Phosphorylation of Ser-279/282 and Tyr-265 positions on Cx43 as possible mediators of VEGF-165 inhibition of pregnancy-adapted Ca2+ burst function in ovine uterine artery endothelial cells. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology – Vol. 412 – 5 September 2015 – pages 73-84 10.1016/j.mce.2015.05.030 PMID: 26033246

2016

James Wynn, MD – Pediatric Track

James Lawrence Wynn – Chris S. Wilson – Jacket Hawiger – Philip O. Scumpia – Andrew F Marshall – Jin-Hua Liu – Irina Zharkikh – Hector R. Wong – Patrick Lahni – John J. Benjamin – Erin J. Plosa – Jorn-Hendrik Weitkamp – Edward R. Sherwood – Lyle L. Moldawer – Ricardo Ungaro – Henry V. Baker – M. Cecilia Lopez- Steven J. McElroy – Natacha Colliou – Mansour Mohamadzaheh – and Daniel Jensen Moore. Targeting IL–17A attenuates neonatal sepsis mortality induced by IL-18. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 May 10;113(19):E2627-35.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27114524 PMID: 27114524

2016

Nicole Marshall, MD, MCR – OB/Gyn Track

Marshall NE – Murphy EJ – King JC – Haas EK – Lim JY – Wiedrick J – Thornburg KL – Purnell JQ. Comparison of multiple methods to measure maternal fat mass in late gestation. Am J Clin Nutr 2016 Apr. 103(4): 1055-63. doi 10.3945/ajcn.115.113464. Epub 2016 Feb 17 10.3945/ajcn.115.113464 PMID: 2688714