NJMS Faculty Celebrates Faculty of the Year Awards in-Person
For the first time since the global pandemic, colleagues can congratulate each other in real life
On Thursday, September 15, 2022, Pallavi Solanki, MD, NJMS Director of Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, took a break from her busy day to deliver a short speech to celebrate the Faculty of the Year Awards. “On behalf of the NJMS Faculty Organization, we wish to congratulate today’s award recipients,” said Solanki, who served as the organization’s president in 2021-2022. “The NJMS faculty have exemplified the highest level of scholarly and clinical activity and dedication to research that produces significant value at all levels.”
The awards, which have been running for over three decades, have been bestowed on the outstanding faculty annually, including during the challenging pandemic times. But until this fall, the faculty had no opportunity to celebrate these achievements together and in-person. So this year’s celebration was truly special, said Melissa B. Rogers, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, who has just assumed the role of the NJMS Faculty Organization President after Solanki.
“We combined all three years and gave a chance to the president of each particular year to give the awards to those who won it during the years we couldn’t celebrate,” Solanki said. “Many of our faculty members were instrumental in either developing COVID response measures or designing specific treatments. So this year we are really delighted to be out and able to celebrate each other.”
The NJMS Faculty Organization Awards have always been a way to honor the faculty’s contributions to medical work. Originally started in 1988 to recognize the NJMS faculty who had an outstanding year in research or clinical science, the awards expanded to cover other areas and concepts. In 2009, NJMS launched the Distinguished Career Award to celebrate those who had dedicated their lives and work careers to medical excellence. Four years later, the awards expanded to recognize the outstanding teachers and mentors nurturing the next generation of physicians. “As years went by, it became obvious that there were those who not only had an extraordinary year, but in fact had a long history of contributions to the medical world and NJMS, hence in 2009 the Distinguished Career award was initiated,” Solanki said. “And in 2013, we began to celebrate the faculty who have proved to be great mentors and excelled in teaching.”
Nominating and selecting the awardees is an involved process, which requires faculty members to nominate their colleagues and write recommendation letters, which are carefully reviewed by a board of several people, who pick the most distinguished candidates, explained Rogers. The faculty’s achievements mirror NJMS’s numerous nationwide recognitions. NJMS was a clinical research center for Moderna vaccine trials; ranked within top three in the country for Liver Transplant at University Hospital for the past one year; and received the Gold Plus Performance Achievement in Heart Failure, among other accolades. “We look forward to continuing excellence and achievements in both clinical and research related activities at Rutgers,” Solanki said. “Together, we will continue to achieve great heights.”
Faculty Awards for 2020
Faculty of the Year
Basic Science Award – Vanessa Routh, PhD
Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience
Nominated by Drs. Pranela Rameshwar and Sylvia Christakos
Clinical Award – Shobha Swaminathan, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Drs. Michelle Dalla Piazza and Diana Finkel
Distinguished Career Award
Clinical Award – Michael Jaker, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Dr. Marc Klapholz
Basic Science Award – Pranela Rameshwar, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Dr. Nicholas Ponzio
Teaching Award
Christin Traba, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Associate Dean for Education
Nominated by Dr. Sangeeta Lamba
Faculty Awards for 2021
Faculty of the Year
Basic Science Award – Selvakumar Subbian, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Dr. Noah Goldman
Clinical Award – Mark Einstein, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Health
Nominated by Dr. Noah Goldman
Distinguished Career Award
Clinical Award – David Alland, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine – Director, Public Health Research Institute
Nominated by Dr. Padmini Salgame
Basic Science Award – Patricia Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathology, Immunology & Laboratory Medicine, Provost, RBHS
Nominated by Drs. Sylvia Christakos and Christine Rohowsky-Kochan
Teaching Award
Basic Science Award - Joshua Berlin, PhD
Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience
Nominated by Drs. Andrew Thomas and Michael Mathews
Clinical Award – Michael Gerstmann, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine
Nominated by Drs. Noa’a Shimoni and Chantal Brazeau
Clinical Award – Anastasia Kunac, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery
Nominated by Dr. James Guarrera
Mentoring Award
Carolyn Suzuki, PhD
Professor, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics
Nominated by Dr. Vivian Bellofatto
Faculty Awards for 2022
Faculty of the Year
Basic Science Award – Sophie Astrof, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology & Molecular Medicine
Nominated by Dr. Junichi Sadoshima
Clinical Award – Andrew Berman, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Drs. Lardizabal, Patrawalla, Sutherland, Guevarra and Greenstein
Distinguished Career Award
Clinical Award – Stanley Weiss, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Dr. W. Clark Lambert
Research Award – Abraham Aviv, MD
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Nominated by Dr. Utz Herbig
Teaching Award
Basic Science Award – George Holan, DPT
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Dr. Christin Traba
Clinical Award – Andrew Kaufman, MD
Professor, Department of Anesthesiology
Nominated by Dr. Alex Bekker
Mentoring Award
Lisa Dever, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Nominated by Drs. Klapholz, Dalla Piazza, Feurdean, and Finkel
View photos from the Faculty Organization Awards
