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October 2026
Honors & Awards
On May 19, 2026, Winning Back My Life, a documentary series from UMSOM’s Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling, received a Bronze Telly Award at the 47th Annual Telly Awards in the Non-Broadcast Campaign-Advocacy & Causes category. Through four powerful, personal stories, the series shows how gambling addiction can affect individuals, families, and relationships, while sharing the challenges and hope that come with recovery.
Created to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and encourage people to seek help, Winning Back My Life offers hope to those facing gambling problems and the people who care about them. This award celebrates the courage of those who shared their stories and the team that brought them to life. Most importantly, it helps share a message worth celebrating: recovery is possible, help is available, and no one has to face gambling problems alone.
Watch the award-winning series at WinningBackMyLife.com.
Tom Blanpied, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, was named 2026 GPILS Teacher of the Year.
David Dreizin, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, has been appointed to the Radiology Editorial Board as Associate Editor for Emergency Radiology.
Mary Kay Lobo, PhD, Professor, Department of Neurobiology, has been appointed a member of the Scientific Council of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF). The Council is a group of preeminent mental health researchers from around the world that provides strategic guidance to the BBRF and participates in the review of research proposals. BBRF is the nation’s top non-governmental funder of mental health research grants. Since 1987, it has awarded nearly $500 million to fund more than 6,886 grants to more than 5,731 scientists around the world.
Zhengyi (Sissi) Huang, a graduate student in the Department of Neurobiology, has been selected as a recipient of a 2026 SfN Trainee Professional Development Award. This award recognizes undergraduate and graduate students and post baccalaureate and postdoctoral scholars who demonstrate scientific merit and excellence in research.
Samantha Scott, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurobiology, was selected as the Postdoctoral Chair for Neuro Networks. Leadership roles in Neuro Networks were previously held by other Neurobiology members Sissi Huang and Daniela Franco.
Emily Aery Jones, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology, has a host of recent achievements, including her interview by The Transmitter for their Liftoff series about new labs. The interview will appear in September 2026, and a snippet will appear here on September 15. Second, Dr. Aery Jones was interviewed by Irene Salter for her upcoming book about the neuroscience of travel. Finally, she was invited by the National Academy of Science to attend the Chinese-American Frontiers of Science Symposium. Only 40 participants were invited from the U.S. Congrats!
Florence Doo, MD, MA, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, received the Laure Aurelian Biomedical Research Endowment Award this year. These awards recognize excellence among junior faculty who already are either highly innovative women researchers, exceptional researchers in women's health or unusually effective mentors to women trainees in biomedical research.
Guangming Li, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, has been appointed as Associated Editor of Frontiers in Immunology from 2026-2027. He was also appointed as Guest Editor of Microorganisms from 2026-2027.
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, has been selected to serve as a Member of the Biochemistry and Biophysics of Membranes Study Section (BBM), Biological Chemistry and Macromolecular Biophysics Integrated Review Group (BCMB), Center for Scientific Review (CSR), National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a four-year term from 2026-2030.
Grants & Contracts
Yannick Poirier, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, is the PI on a contract from Pacific Northwest National Lab (Battelle Memorial Institute/Department of Energy) for “Cesium irradiator replacement project (CIRP)” for $446,103 (8/27/2026–8/31/2028).
Florence Doo, MD, MA, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, received a $749,621 grant from the FDA for “Real-world Evidence and Localized AI Imaging Testbed for Pulmonary Embolism.”
Xinglin Zeng, PhD, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, received $73,000 for a one-year award entitled "Assessing Spatiotemporal Cerebral Hypoperfusion of Alzheimer's Disease" for a Postdoctoral Fellow Scholar in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Health Enhancement Scientific Program. Ze Wang, PhD, is the mentor on this grant.
Wei Li, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, received an NIH/NCI R25 award (AI in Cancer Genomics: Educational modules in DC-Area Universities).
Thomas Longden, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, received a five-year, $2.9 million renewal of his grant from the National Institute on Aging for "Pericytes as Metabolic Sentinels in the Control of Brain Blood Flow in Health and Aging." The award runs through June 2031.
Lishan Su, PhD, Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and Guangming Li, PhD (MPI/Co-PI), Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, received a 5-year, $3,087,765 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) for “Regulation and Role of pDC in Immunopathogenesis of HBV/HIV co-Infection.”
Iris Lindberg, PhD, Professor, Department of Neurobiology, and her collaborator Daniel Kober (UT Southwestern), have been awarded a 5-year R01 mPI grant from the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney for "How intermolecular chaperones enable spatial control of prohormone convertase activity."
Joseph Cheer, PhD, Professor, Department of Neurobiology, has been awarded a 5-year renewal of his R01 grant from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse for "Endogenous Cannabinoid Control of Reward Substrates."
Donna Calu, PhD (contact PI), and Marco Venniro, PhD, Associate Professors in the Department of Neurobiology, have been awarded a new 5-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse for “Insular-Amygdala Conflict Processing After Voluntary Abstinence.”
Isaiah Williamson, a graduate student in the Department of Neurobiology, has been awarded a Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31) from NIDA to study Physiological Characterization of PBN CGRP Neurons During Chronic Opioid Exposure and Withdrawal.
Presentations
UM Radiation Oncology at ASTRO 2026
The 68th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) was held September 26–30 in Boston, MA. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Data to Dialogue: Communicating Radiotherapy’s Value to Advanced Care.” Faculty members, residents, postdoctoral students, and others from the University of Maryland Department of Radiation Oncology participated in 40 presentations, including multiple oral and Quick-Pitch talks and as coauthors in three plenary sessions (all abstracts are available in the October 2026 supplement to the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics). These presentations included reports of scientific research, as well as invited lectures and service as session moderators and on discussion panels. A highlight of the meeting was the department’s Welcome Dinner and Reception for current members and alumni, held at Davio’s Boston Seaport restaurant on the evening of September 27.
Publications
Sui-Seng Tee, PhD, Assistant Professor, from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was the last author of “TLR2 Regulates α-Synuclein Phosphorylation and Release in an Enteroendocrine Cell Model,” which was published in Molecular Neurobiology in September 2026.
Lucia Fadon-Padilla, PhD, Research Fellow; Chengyan Chu, MD, Research Associate; Lorissa McDougall, MSc, Research Fellow; Yajie Liang, MB, PhD, Assistant Professor; Miroslaw Janowski, MD, PhD, Professor; and Piotr Walczak, MD, PhD, Professor, all from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors of “Mesenchymal Stem Cells as Cellular Factories for Targeted P2X7 Blockade after Traumatic Brain Injury,” which was published in Neuroprotection in September 2026. Dr. Fadon-Padilla was the first author and Dr. Walczak was the last author.
Gabrielle Dickerson, Medical School Student Joseph Chirico, MD, PGY 4; Jade J. Wong-You-Cheong, MD, Professor; Barton F. Lane, MD, Associate Professor; and Florence Doo, MD, Assistant Professor, all from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors of “Decoding the Image: Finding Diagnostic Signals in Multi-modality Abdominal Artifacts,” which was published in Abdominal Radiology on September 24, 2026. Epub ahead of print. Ms. Dickerson was the first author and Dr. Doo was the last author.
Alexander Allen, MD, resident; Kai Sun, biostatistician; David Alicia, senior dosimetrist; Ajaya Banskota, dosimetrist; Jenna Jatczak, Associate Chief of Proton Dosimetry; Kara Lehman, dosimetrist; Sina Mossahebi, PhD, Associate Professor; Zakary Rana, MD, Assistant Professor; and Matthew Ferris, MD, Associate Professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Hypofractionated and Stereotactic Body Proton Radiotherapy for a High-Risk Lung Cancer Cohort: A Multi-Institutional Experience from the Proton Collaborative Group Prospective Registry,” which was published in the September 15 issue of Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology (2026;62:101291).
Wei Deng, PhD, Assistant Professor; Thomas Houser, senior dosimetrist; Jenna Jatczak, Associate Chief of Proton Dosimetry; Eric Kusmaul, senior dosimetrist; Matthew Ferris, MD, Associate Professor; Shifeng Chen, PhD, Professor; Byong Yong Yi, PhD, Professor; and Nrusingh Biswal, PhD, Associate Professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Optimum Elevation Between the Skin Surface and Skin Markers for Proton Therapy CT Simulation,” published on September 21 ahead of print in Practical Radiation Oncology.
Charlyn Gomez, UM medical student; Caitlin Eggleston, Director of Clinical Research Operations, Matthew Ferris, MD, Associate Professor; Jason Molitoris, MD, Associate Professor; Zakary Rana, MD, Assistant Professor; Sarah McAvoy, MD, Associate Professor; Elizabeth Nichols, MD, Professor; William Regine, MD, Professor; Wendla Citron, MD, Assistant Professor; and Melissa A.L. Vyfhuis, MD, PhD, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Centering Black Voices: Factors Influencing a Cancer Patient's Decision to Join a Clinical Trial,” published on September 25 ahead of print in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics.
Feyruz Rassool, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Uncovering Pan-Cancer Signatures of Chemoresistance,” published in the September issue of Genome Medicine (2026 Sep 16;18(1):141).
Chaitanya Kalavagunta, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Mariana Guerrero, PhD, Professor, both in the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “A Centralized Hybrid Model for Regulatory Inspection Readiness in a Multi-Site Radiation Oncology System,” published in September in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics. (2026;27(9):e70791).
Austin Thompson, MD, Resident; Matthew Ferris, MD, Associate Professor; Sally Cheston, MD, Associate Professor; Ashkar Patel, MD, Assistant Professor; Sarah McAvoy, MD, Associate Professor; Elizabeth Nichols, MD, Professor; Wendla Citron, MD, Assistant Professor; Sara Dudley, MD, Assistant Professor; and Melissa A.L. Vyfhuis, MD, PhD, all in the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Food Insecurity and Overall Survival in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Comprehensive Nodal Irradiation: The Food Insecurity-Obesity Paradox,” published on August 18 in Advances in Radiation Oncology (2026;11(12):102179).
Guangming Li, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, was second author of “Persistent IFN-I signaling inhibits mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in CD8+ T cells during HIV-1 infection under cART,” which was published in Cellular and Molecular Immunology on April 2, 2026.
Lishan Su, PhD, Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, was co-corresponding author of “Persistent IFN-I signaling inhibits mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in CD8+ T cells during HIV-1 infection under cART,” which was published in Cellular and Molecular Immunology on April 2, 2026.
- Dr. Li and Dr. Su were co-corresponding authors of “Depletion of plasmacytoid dendritic cells rescues HIV-reactive stem-like CD8+ T cells during chronic HIV-1 infection,” which was published in Science Translational Medicine on November 5, 2025.
Professor Mervyn Monteiro, Victoria Collis, Peyton Fuller, and Grace Blanco, all in the Department of Neurobiology, are among the authors of a new publication, “TBK1 overexpression reduces neuronal loss in the P497S UBQLN2 mouse model of ALS/FTD,” published in Neurobiology of Disease, Volume 229, 2026.
Carlos Medina-Saldivar, a graduate student in Dr. Cheer’s lab the Department of Neurobiology, is first author of a new publication, “Endocannabinoid metabolism at VTA GABAergic neurons gates motivation for social, but not food, reward” published in Neuropsychopharmacology (2026).
Dinobi Offurum, a high school senior in the Department of Neurobiology when he wrote the review article, is first author of “Sex differences in the expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and its receptor: a review of contradictory and nuanced findings,” published in Neurobiology of Pain, August 2026.