Recipients of the 2021 Early Career Investigator Awards

This is the sixteenth year of competition for ATVB Early Career Investigator Awards. The Awards recognize articles published in ATVB in 2020 that were submitted by new investigators and judged to be the most outstanding in the Atherosclerosis/Lipoprotein, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology sections of the journal. The three awards are named for Dr Daniel Steinberg, who devised a method to determine the site of degradation of the proteins and lipids of a lipoprotein, which led to the concept of selective uptake of cholesterol and apoprotein that characterizes the reverse cholesterol transport pathway; Dr Karl Link, who identified dicoumarol as the hemorrhagic factor in spoiled sweet clover hay and then developed dicoumarol and warfarin as anticoagulant drugs; and Dr Werner Risau, who formulated key concepts for the regulation of angiogenesis, challenged the prevailing dogmas about angiogenic factors, and proposed the now accepted hypothesis that several growth factors act sequentially to mediate vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, and vascular remodeling.

In the sixteenth year of the award, 400 articles were submitted for the Awards. Recipients of the awards are as follows:

Olga A. Cherepanova, PhD, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, the 2021 recipient of the Daniel Steinberg Early Career Investigator Award in Atherosclerosis/Lipoproteins, for her article, “Novel Autoimmune IgM Antibody Attenuates Atherosclerosis in IgM Deficient Low-Fat Diet–Fed, but Not Western Diet–Fed Apoe^–/– Mice” (ATVB: 2020;40:206–219).

Fatima Alshbool, PhD, Texas A&M University, the 2021 recipient of the Karl Link Early Career Investigator Award in Thrombosis, for her article, “Short-Term Exposure to Waterpipe/Hookah Smoke Triggers a Hyperactive Platelet Activation State and Increases the Risk of Thrombogenesis” (ATVB: 2020;40:335–349).

Sebastian Steven, MD, University Medical Center Mainz, the 2021 recipient of the Werner Risau Early Career Investigator Award in Vascular Biology, for his article, “Endothelial GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide 1) Receptor Mediates Cardiovascular Protection by Liraglutide in Mice With Experimental Arterial Hypertension” (ATVB: 2020;40:145–158).

The recipients will be honored at the next Vascular Discovery Sessions and will receive a plaque, travel support if attending in person (provided by the ATVB Council), and a check for $2500, (provided by Wolters Kluwer).

The Editors congratulate the recipients of the Awards for their outstanding articles!