BALTIMORE, Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the American Urological Association (AUA) and the Urology Care Foundation—the official foundation of the AUA—have recognized 21 researchers as recipients of the 2020 Urology Care Foundation Research Scholar Awards. These awards provide $40,000 per year for one- or two-year mentored research training for clinical and postdoctoral fellows or early-career faculty, and are critically important in developing future research leaders and improving patients' lives through better understanding of the development and management of urologic diseases and conditions.

"For 45 years, the Urology Care Foundation Research Scholar Awards have enabled and encouraged bright, young physician-scientists and researchers to dedicate their careers to improving patients' lives through better understanding of the development and management of urologic diseases and conditions," said Harris M. Nagler, MD, Urology Care Foundation President. "These researchers and their work can significantly influence the practice of urology and the lives of those affected by urologic diseases and conditions."

AUA North Central Section Award: Renee de Leeuw, PhD will receive this award for one-year of funding. Dr. Leeuw's study is focused on aggressive prostate cancer at the University of Illinois–Chicago under the mentorship of Larisa Nonn, PhD and Peter H. Gann, MD, ScD. A second 2020 Research Scholar Award sponsored by the North Central Section will be announced at a later date.

AUA Northeastern Section Award: Nicolas Montalbetti, PhD will receive this award for a two-year study on pain in urinary tract infections at the University of Pittsburgh under the mentorship of Marcelo Carattino, PhD and Gerard Apodaca, PhD.

AUA South Central Section Award: Patrick Hensley, MD will receive this award for a one-year research study on predicting bladder cancer response to chemotherapy at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center under the mentorship of Ashish Kamat, MD and Charles Guo, MD.

AUA Southeastern Section Award: Himanshu Arora, PhD and Anirban Kundu, PhD will receive two-year research awards for studies focused on castration-resistant prostate cancer and kidney cancer, respectively. Dr. Arora will be mentored by Joshua Hare, MD, Dipen Parekh, MD and Bonnie B. Blomberg, PhD at the University of Miami and Dr. Kundu will be mentored by Sunil Sudarshan, MD and Pran Datta, PhD at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

AUA Western Section Award: Renea Sturm, MD will receive this award for a two-year study focused on urethral tissue engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles under the mentorship of Nasim Annabi, PhD, Ali Khademhosseini, PhD and Isla Garraway, MD, PhD.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Award: Morgan E. Roberts, PhD will receive this award for a two-year research study on muscle-invasive bladder cancer at the University of British Columbia under the mentorship of Peter Black, MD.

Chesapeake Urology Sanford J. Siegel, MD Prostate Cancer Research Award: Srikanth Perike, PhD will receive this award for a two-year study on prostate cancer metastasis at the University of Illinois–Chicago under the mentorship of Donald J. Vander Griend, PhD, Larisa Nonn, PhD, Alan M. Diamond, PhD and Gail Prins, PhD.

Dornier MedTech Award: Hatim Thaker, MD will receive this award for a one-year study on improving treatment for overactive bladder at Boston Children's Hospital under the mentorship of Min Dong, PhD, Rosalyn Adam, PhD and Carlos Estrada, MD, MBA.

Endo Pharmaceuticals Award: Guillermo Adolfo Villegas, PhD will receive this award for a one-year study on erectile dysfunction at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine under the mentorship of Kelvin Davies, PhD.

Endourological Society Award: Jose Agudelo, MD will receive this award for a two-year study on calcium-based urinary stones at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation under the mentorship of Aaron Miller, PhD and Manoj Monga, MD.

Endourological Society Raju Thomas, MD Award: Joseph Crivelli, MD will receive this award for a two-year study on kidney stone formation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the mentorship of Dean Assimos, MD and Ross Holmes, PhD.

Joseph Segura Scholarship in Endourology and Stone Management: Justin Ahn, MD will receive this award for a one-year study on ureteroscopic stone intervention at the University of California, San Francisco under the mentorship of Tom Chi, MD.

Indian American Urological Association Sakti Das, MD Award: Diya Binoy Joseph, PhD will receive this award for a two-year study on benign prostatic hyperplasia at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center under the mentorship of Douglas Strand, PhD, Linda Baker, MD and Claus Roehrborn, MD.

Indian American Urological Association Anupam Ted Kedia Award: Jagpreet Singh Nanda, PhD will receive this award for a two-year research study on castration-resistant prostate cancer at Case Western Reserve University under the mentorship of Magdalena Grabowska, PhD, Scott Dehm, PhD and Lee Ponsky, MD.

Robert J. Krane, MD Urology Research Award: Young A. Yoo, PhD will receive this award for a one-year research study on androgen deprivation therapy resistance at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine under the mentorship of Sarki Abdulkadir, MD, PhD.

Sexual Medicine Society of North America Award: Denis Asafu-Adjei, MD, MPH will receive this award for a one-year study on disparities in erectile dysfunction services at the University of California, Los Angeles under the mentorship of Jesse Mills, MD, Mark Litwin, MD, MPH, Sriram Eleswarapu, MD, PhD and Stanley Frencher MD, MPH.

Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine &amp, Urogenital Reconstruction Hari Badlani Award: Evgeniy Kreydin, MD will receive this award for a two-year study on lower urinary tract symptoms at the University of Southern California under the mentorship of V. Reggie Edgerton, PhD, David A. Ginsberg, MD and Kay Jann, PhD.

Society of Urologic Oncology: Pauline Filippou, MD and Chen Qian, PhD will receive this award for their one- and two-year studies, respectively. Dr. Filippou's study will focus on end-of-life care for bladder cancer patients at the University of Washington under the mentorship of John Gore, MD. Dr. Qian's research will focus on metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center under the mentorship of Michael Freeman, PhD, Beatrice Knudsen, MD, PhD and Lily Wu, MD, PhD.

Society of Urologic Oncology Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) Award: Andrew Tracey, MD will receive this award for a one-year research study on upper tract urothelial carcinoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center under the mentorship of Jonathan Coleman, MD and Kwanghee Kim, PhD.

"We are delighted to be able to support, with the Urology Care Foundation, such a strong new group of young urology investigators dedicating their time and talents to tackling some of today's most important challenges facing patients with urologic diseases and conditions," said Aria F. Olumi, MD, chair of the AUA's Research Council. "We will be looking for great things to come from the results of their work, which will advance the Foundation's mission to improve patients' lives through education and research."

To learn more about the Urology Care Foundation Research Scholar Awards visit: https://www.auanet.org/research/research-funding/aua-funding/research-scholar-awards

About the Urology Care Foundation: The Urology Care Foundation is the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation, and the official foundation of the American Urological Association. Collaborating with physicians, researchers, patients and the public, the Foundation supports and improves urologic clinical care by funding research, developing patient education and pursuing philanthropic support. To learn more about the Urology Care Foundation and its programs visit: www.urologyhealth.org.

About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 23,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. www.AUAnet.org

SOURCE American Urological Association and Urology Care Foundation