Past Award Recipients

• 2002 – Prithvi Raj, MD, and Gabor Racz, MD
• 2006 – John Oakley, MD
• 2007 – Norman Shealy, MD, PhD
• 2009 – Richard North, MD
• 2010 – Michael Stanton-Hicks, MD, MBBS
• 2011 – Elliot Krames, MD
• 2012 – Bengt Linderoth, MD, PhD, and Joshua Prager, MD, MS
• 2013 – Giancarlo Barolat, MD
• 2014 – Alim-Louis Benabid, MD, PhD
• 2015 – Tony Yaksh, PhD
• 2018 – Robert Foreman, PhD
• 2019 – Peter Staats, MD, MBA, DABA, ABIPP, FIPP
• 2020 – Hunter Peckham, PhD
• 2021 – Lisa Stearns, MD
• 2022 – J. Thomas Mortimer, PhD
• 2023 – Ali Rezai, MD
• 2024 – Sam Eldabe MB ChB, FRCA, FFPMRCA
• ​2025 – Nagy Mekhail, MD, PhD
• 2026 – Kim Burchiel, MD, FACS

• 2005 – Sam J. Hassenbusch, MD
• 2011 – K. Dean Willis, MD
• 2013 – Robert Foreman, PhD
• 2014 – David Caraway, MD, PhD
• 2017 – David Kloth, MD
• 2018 – Joshua Prager, MD, MS
• 2019 – Richard North, MD
• 2020 – Jaimie M. Henderson, MD
• 2021 – Ashwini Sharan, MD
• 2022 – B. Todd Sitzman, MD
• 2023 – Lawrence Poree, MD, PhD
• 2024 – ​Peter Konrad, MD, PhD
• ​2025 – Salim Hayek, MD, PhD
• 2026 – Julie Pilitsis, MD, PhD

• ​2023 – Warren Grill, PhD
• ​2024 – Dominique Durand, MS, PhD (Engineering) | Helen S. Mayberg, MD (Clinical)
• ​2025 – Andres Lozano, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FRSC, FCAHS (Clinical)
• 2026 – Shadi Dayeh, PhD

• 2026 – Cameron McIntyre, PhD​

• 2023 – Tim Deer, MD
• 2024 – ​David Provenzano, MD | Joshua Rosenow, MD, FAANS, FACS
• 2025 – Steven M. Falowski, MD | Jason Pope, MD | Dawood Sayed, MD

• 2014 – Sridevi V. Sarma, PhD: “On the Therapeutic Mechanisms of Deep Brain Stimulation for Parksinson’s Disease: Why High Frequency?”
• 2015 – Casey H. Halpern, MD: “Amelioration of Binge Eating by Nucleus Accumbens Deep Brain Stimulation in Mice Involves D2 Receptor Modulation”
• 2017 – Scott Lempka, PhD: “Computational Analysis of Kilohertz Frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Pain Management”
• 2018 – Dario J. Englot, MD, PhD: “Altered Structural and Functional Connectivity of Brainstem Arousal Centers in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy”
• 2019 – Mallory L. Hacker, PhD: “Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation on Rest Tremor Progression in Early Stage Parkinson’s Disease”
• 2020 – Alik S. Widge, MD, PhD: “Deep Brain Stimulation of the Internal Capsule Enhances Human Cognitive Control and Prefrontal Cortex Function”
• 2021 – Lee. E. Fisher, PhD: “Sensory Restoration by Epidural Stimulation of the Lateral Spinal Cord in Upper-Limb Amputees”
• 2022 – Patrick Ganzer, PhD: “Dynamic Detection and Reversal of Myocardial Ischemia Using an Artificially Intelligent Bioelectronic Medicine”
• 2023 – Ilknur Telkes, PhD: “High Resolution Spinal Motor Mapping Using Thoracic Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients with Chronic Pain”
• 2024 – Prasad Sirvalkar, MD, PhD: “First-in-human prediction of chronic pain state using intracranial neural biomarkers”
• 2025 – Nicole Provenza, PhD: “Disruption of neural periodicity predicts clinical response after deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder”
• 2026 – Iahn Cajigas, MD, PhD: “​Implantable brain–computer interface for neuroprosthetic-enabled volitional hand grasp restoration in spinal cord injury”

• 2021 – Amitabh Gulati, MD
• 2022 – Sandy Christiansen, MD
• 2023 – Magdalena Anitescu, MD, PhD
• 2024 – ​Vinita Singh, MD, MSCR
• ​2025 – Saba Javed, MD
• 2026 – Arti Ori, MD

• ​2025 – Chelsey Hoffman, PA-C, MS, RD
• 2026 – Blake Parente, MHS, PA-C

2024 Recipients

• Rising Star Resident – Ahish Chitneni, DO | Danika Paulo, MD
• Rising Star Fellow – Alexandra Moreira, MD | Shashank Vodapally, DO
• Rising Star Early Career – Ryan S. D’Souza, MD | Nicole (Nikki) Pelot, PhD

2025 Recipients

• Rising Star Resident – Harman Chopra, MD | Crystal Joseph, MD
• Rising Star Fellow – Mustafa Broachwala, DO | Eva Kubrova, MD
• Rising Star Early Career – Manish Ranjan, MD | Ilknur Telkes, PhD, MS

2026 Recipients

• Rising Star Resident – David Gallacher, MD | Tessa Harland, MD
• Rising Star Fellow – Ahish Chitneni, DO | Roslaynn Conic, MD, PhD, MPH
• Rising Star Early Career – Matthew Chung, MD | Saba Javed, MD

2023 Grant Recipients

• Meagan Brucker-Hahn, PhD
• Victor Ekuta, MD
• Tessa Harland, MD
• Trevor Johnson, MD
• Edgar Peña, PhD

2024 Grant Recipients

• Rodrigo Aguiar, MD
• Efemena Diejomaoh, MD, MBBS
• Luis Ruiz Perez, BS, MS
• Fabienne Saint-Preux, MD
• Tess Veuthey, MD, PhD

2025 Grant Recipients

• Varina Clark Onwunyi, MD
• Rachel Esparza, MD
• Oranicha Jumreornvong, MD
• Anthony Kilgore Jr., MD
• ​Wutt Hmone Kyi, BS

2026 Grant Recipients

• Ashlyn Brown, MD, MBA, MS
• Barbara Buccilli, MD
• James Mossner, MD, MS
• Rahil Soroushmojdehi, PhD, MS
• ​Rebecca Takele, DO