AUA Foundation announces 2009 Research Scholar Program award winners

The American Urological Association (AUA) Foundation announced the award winners for the 2009 Research Scholar Program. The AUA Foundation Research Scholar Program supports young scientists in the early stages of their research careers. This year, a record number of candidates applied for awards.

The Research Scholar Program provides support to young men and women who are interested in pursuing a career in urologic research. Applicants can choose from one- and two-year fellowships for MDs and PhDs.

The program seeks to attract the highest quality research candidates available and offers a $30,000 salary stipend for each year of the award, with a 100 percent match from the researcher's institution.

"We are incredibly proud to be able to sponsor a record number of scholars this year," said AUA Foundation Executive Director Sandra Vassos, MPA. "By supplementing researcher salaries, we hope to attract the best and brightest to research urologic conditions so that we can meet our goal of ultimately curing urologic diseases."

The following researchers have been named AUA Foundation Research Scholars for 2009:

Scott Delacroix, MD, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Evaluation of Nicotinamide N-Metyhltransferase Modulation on Chemotherapeutic Susceptibility of
Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Smitha Dutt, PhD, University of California, Davis School of Medicine

Role of Trefoil Factor 1 (TFF1) in Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer

Amit Gupta, MD, MPH, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Significance of Prostate-Specific Antigen and Kallikrein 2 (hK2) in Prostate Cancer

Guang Jia, PhD, The Ohio State University

Phase 0 MRI Study to Detect in Vivo Protein Levels in Prostate Cancer

HaiHong Jiang, MD, PhD, Cleveland Clinic

Electrostimulation After Delivery Injury to Treat Urinary Incontinence

Xiaogang Jiang, MD, PhD, University of Washington

The Role of Inadequate Elastin Deposition in Erectile Dysfunction

Rong Liu, PhD, Albany Medical College

PEMPA1 Promotes Cell Proliferation Through Down-Regulating p21WAF1/Cip1 in Prostate

Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD, Northwestern University

The Role of MicroRNAs in Prostate Development

Ted Skolarus, MD, University of Michigan

Prostate Cancer Expenditures: Variation and Implications

Ye Sun, MD, PhD, Children's Hospital Boston

Homeodomain Transcription Factor and the Mammalian Lower Urinary Tract

Jared Whitson, MD, San Francisco VA Medical Center

Double Stranded-RNA Mediated Gene Activation and Regulation

Jun Yan, PhD, Columbia University

Analyses of Early Stage Prostate Carcinogenesis: Targeting the NF-κ-B Pathway for Early Intervention

In October 2007, the AUA Board of Directors approved the creation of an AUA Section Scholar Endowment Initiative that provides matching funds to assist AUA Sections in establishing endowed research funds to support research scholars. The AUA Northeastern, North Central, Western and South Central sections have all funded scholars this year as part of the initiative.

"The creation of the AUA Section Scholar Endowment Initiative not only encouraged more sections to sponsor a research scholar than ever before, but it also provided for the continuation of the endowment so that these sections can continue to sponsor new scholars each year," said AUA President John M. Barry, MD.

Since its inception in 1975, the Research Scholar program has presented research scholarships and awards to more than 460 researchers through a variety of programs and fellowships. Many of those scholars remain in academic urology today, conducting valuable research and continuing to build upon the base of experience and knowledge gained during their research fellowships.

"I was a Research Scholar when I first joined Northwestern University as an assistant professor in 1976," said AUA Foundation Research Council Chair Anthony J. Schaeffer, MD, who is now chair of the Department of Urology at Northwestern University. "This program creates a great incentive to do the hard work of research. We need more programs to supplement salaries and encourage young investigators to continue in the field."

Source: American Urological Association