Congratulations to the following recipients of the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute FY2026 Fellow Research Scholar Awards. Each principal investigator will receive a $5,000 award to support their research project.  

  • Lauren Boland, MD 
    Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project title: Determining the Immunologic Effects of an “Off-the-shelf” Neoantigen Heat Shock Protein Vaccine for Treatment of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)/Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG): A First-in-Children Phase 1 Clinical Trial  
    Mentor: Jason Miska, PhD 

  • Travis Churilla, MD 
    Pediatric Nephrology Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project Title: Evolution and Kinetics of Pre-Transplant and de novo Donor Specific Antibodies in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients
    Mentor: Priya Verghese, MD, MPH 

  • Samuel Dowling, MD, PhD 
    Pediatric Rheumatology Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project title: Transcriptional Profiling and Modeling of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis 
    Mentor: Harris R. Perlman, PhD 

  • Catherine Ludwig, MD  
    Pediatric Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project title: Association of Differential Gestational Exposure to Ambient Pollutants with Adverse Birth Outcomes in a Large-Volume, Urban Delivery Hospital 
    Mentor: Abel Kho, MD, MS, FACMI 

  • Kathryn Phillips, MD 
    Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project title: The impact of innate immune training after early life viral infections on subsequent viral challenges. 
    Mentor: Bria M. Coates, MD 

  • Charlene Walton, MD 
    Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project title: Adding Context to Characterize Pre-Hospital Interventions for U.S. Youth Drowning with Narrative Data, 2018-2024: A Retrospective Convergent Mixed Methods Study 
    Mentor: Michelle L. Macy, MD, MS

  • Alexis Williams, MD  
    Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project title: Early Screening for Neurocognitive Deficits in Infants and Young Children with Sickle Cell Disease 
    Mentor: Sherif M. Badawy, MD, MS, MBA  

  • Madison Wolfe, MD 
    Pediatric Rheumatology Fellow (2024–2027) 
    Project title: Diaphragm Ultrasound in Juvenile Myositis 
    Mentor: Angela Chun, MD, MEd