News

Congratulations to Donna Plecha, MD, FSBI, FACR, on receiving the 2026 Distinguished Physician Award from University Hospitals. Dr. Plecha's leadership in breast imaging and commitment to innovation and patient-centered care continue to inspire the field of imaging research.

Congratulations to Chaitra Badve, MD on receiving an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award for the project, Synergistic Utility of MRF and FET-PET in Recurrent Glioblastomas: Mapping Fractional Tumor Burden and Predicting Therapeutic Response.

Congratulations to Inas Mohamed, MD on receiving her first research grant, an award from the University Hospitals Health Services Research Center Intramural Research Grants 2026 program.

Congratulations to Rui Cao, PhD on being recognized as one of the 2026 BMES Young Pioneers at the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting. This honor recognizes emerging leaders in the field and reflects Dr. Cao’s contributions to biomedical imaging and the broader research community.

Congratulations to Dr. Chaitra Badve, Dr. Robert Gilkeson, and Dr. Amit Gupta on receiving the 2026 Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research for their outstanding contributions to medical imaging.

Congratulations to Chaitra Badve, MD, associate professor, radiology, CWRU and UH, on receiving a CWRU School of Medicine Dean’s HERO Award for the project, “Building Clinically Deployable Infrastructure for Integrated Multimodal Imaging Biomarkers in Glioblastoma.”

Xin Yu, ScD, F. Alex Nason Professor II, biomedical engineering, CWRU, has received an NIH RF1 grant for a project which will develop novel magnetic resonance imaging methods to quantitatively assess glymphatic function in vivo and apply them to study how aging and exercise affect vascular physiology and waste clearance in the brain.

MD/PhD student Laura Chen received an NIH F30 grant for “Ultrasound-triggered nanobubble gene therapy for prostate cancer radiosensitization,” developing gene therapy to overcome radiation resistance in prostate tumors and potentially reduce exposure, side effects, and improve outcomes. Laura is mentored by Dr. Agata Exner.

PhD student Dorian Durig received an NIH F31 grant for a project with potential to improve treatment monitoring, support personalized therapies, and enhance cancer immunotherapy effectiveness. Dorian is mentored by Agata Exner.

Faezeh Sodagari, MD, assistant professor of radiology at CWRU/UH, was selected for the Academy’s Council of Early Career Investigators in Imaging (CECI²) Class of 2026–27, a program advancing medical imaging innovation, NIH grantsmanship, and research advocacy.