New Grant Awards November 2026

October 29, 2026 • 11:12 a.m.

	Aviva Aiden, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Departments of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology; and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, JSSOM New three-year G Harold & Leila Y Mathers Foundation contract award for "Regulation and Function of Genome Architecture in Living Mammals"
	Carlos Rene Dostal, MD, PhD, FACP, FASAM, FAWM Assistant Professor of Clinical Practice, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Medicine, JSSOM New two-year Brain and Behavior Research Foundation research grant award for "Affective and Clinical Characterization of Kratom/7-Hydroxymitragynine Use Disorder and Treatment Response"
	Junki Maruyama, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, JSSOM New five-year National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) research grant award for "Pathogenic mechanisms of Guanarito virus and development of countermeasures against Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever"
	Ourlad Alzeus Tantengco, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetics and Gynecology, JSSOM New one-year American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association research grant award for "Extracellular Vesicles from Sexually Transmitted Bacteria Drive Cellular Senescence and Tissue Remodeling in the Female Lower Genital Tract"
	David H. Walker, MD Professor, Departments of Pathology and Microbiology & Immunology, JSSOM; and Executive Director, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases New two-year National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) exploratory research grant award for "Role of Neutralizing Antibodies in Strain-specific Immunity to Orientia tsutsugamushi"
	Scott C. Weaver, PhD, MS Professor, Departmenst of Microbiology & Immunology and Pathology, JSSOM; Director, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity; and Scientific Director, Galveston National Laboratory New five-year National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shared resource related research grant award: "Support for Emerging Virus and Arbovirus Research"

Heather Stevenson-Lerner, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathology, JSSOM; Director, John Sealy Diagnostic Center

Bill T. Ameredes, PhD, MS
Professor, Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Internal Medicine, JSSOM

New five-year National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) programmatic research grant award for "UTMB CTSA: Greater Gulf Coast Translational Science Alliance (GGCTSA) K12 Scholars Program"