Congratulations to our 2022 Early Stage Investigator Award Winners!

In my professional life, I wear many hats. One of my favorites is mentoring the next generation of investigators, scientists and medical leaders. Part of our collective effort as an academic health system is to create an environment where we are not only providing excellent care, but we’re also creating a healthier world tomorrow. We advance health through science and education.  In short, we invest in the next generation.

The MedStar Health Research Institute Early Stage Investigator Grant is a funding opportunity available to support early stage investigators at MedStar Health to help launch impactful research careers in any discipline or specialty that will advance health and create new knowledge. 

The goal of the grant is to support scientific research by a MedStar Health employed investigator that will advance health for patients in the communities we serve. Also, this opportunity provides seed funding that has a high likelihood of leading to external funding which ultimately contributes to the successful launch of a productive research career at MedStar Health.

I am pleased to announce the following MedStar Health early stage investigators to receive funding for their research.  This is the first round of funding with others likely to be funded later this year. 

We are MedStar Health Proud of our grantees and excited to see them take their research career to the next stage and support our mission to advance how we treat our patients today and tomorrow.

Investigator: Erica Coates, PhD

Research Project: Preschooler’s Adjustment to In-Person Learning Following COVID-19-Related School Closures in Black Families: A Mixed Methods Approach

The purpose of this study is to draw attention to the experiences of Black families with young children during the pandemic and identify parent and teacher protective factors associated with children’s adjustment during the return to in-person learning 2021-2022 school year. This is especially important given the public health, economic, educational, and racial injustices Black Americans have endured during the pandemic, and for hundreds of years.

The proposed study will provide valuable insight about the inequities experienced by Black children and caregivers and will lead to improved methods for addressing health disparities. This work will support the efforts of the MedStar Health Research Institute’s Health Equity Plan to promote justice for marginalized communities and to dismantle structural racism across the spectrum of bias and discrimination

Investigator: Charlotte Gamble, MD, MPH

Research Project: Racial Inequity in Endometrial Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcomes in Washington, D.C.- A Mixed Methods Study

Endometrial cancer has the second widest Black/White racial disparity in 5 year mortality of all cancers affecting people in the United States at 20% -- second only to Melanoma at 26%. Rates of endometrial cancers are increasing, yet the mortality gap remains unchanged. In order to design successful multi-level interventions that eliminate the systematic inequity that culminates in this massive survival gap, it is essential that both the patient experience as well as community and local health system resources are leveraged appropriately.

The aims of this study are to: 1) determine experience of black patients during diagnosis and treatment, using semi-structured interviews; 2) quantify disparity in receipt of surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy within a single healthcare system; and 3) map regional (DC area) disparity in diagnosis and treatment by patient neighborhood to assess role of racial segregation in determining referral patterns and access to cancer care.

This study will lay the necessary groundwork for designing tailored interventions that address inequity in diagnosis and treatment of Black women with endometrial cancer. It will also leverage the patient experience to prioritize identified gaps in provision of care that should be targeted.

Investigator: Joshua Reuss, MD

Research Project: Comprehensive Assessment of the Immunobiology of Immunotherapy-Refractory NSCLC Patients Treated on a Phase II Trial of Anti-PD-L1 Plus Anti-TIGIT Immunotherapy with VEGF Inhibition

Anti-PD(L)1 immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has revolutionized the frontline management of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who lack actionable driver mutations. Despite this, the majority of patients develop resistance, at which point effective treatments are limited. The aims of this proposal are to analyze tumor and blood specimens collected from patients prior to and during study treatment in order to illuminate: (1) what factors in the pre-treatment tumor microenvironment (TME) and periphery promote immune checkpoint blockade resistance, and (2) how tiragolumab plus atezolizumab and bevacizumab (TAB) therapy acts on the TME and peripheral immune repertoire to enhance an effective antitumor immune response.

Not only would these analyses illuminate the underlying mechanisms of ICB resistance in advanced NSCLC, but they would also provide supporting data to evaluate potential biomarkers of response, as well as additional candidate treatment targets that further invigorate an effective anti-tumor immune response. Critically, pilot data generated from this proposal will serve as the backbone for career development proposals that incorporate additional innovative analyses which seek to explore the functional evolution of the anti-tumor immune response including: T-cell receptor sequencing, neoantigen prediction, and single-cell RNA sequencing.