AAN Awards Recognize Achievements, Help Winners Realize Potential

Since the 1950s, the Academy has recognized the achievements of gifted researchers and clinicians dedicated to solving neurology’s greatest mysteries. The AAN’s first designated honor, “Junior Award of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the American Academy of Neurology,” was presented to John Logothetis, MD, who made headlines when he drove overnight from Minneapolis to the 1955 Annual Meeting in Houston to accept it. Logothetis was selected for his research, “A Study of Free Amino Acids in the Human Cerebrospinal Fluid.” A protégé of AAN founder A.B. Baker at the University of Minnesota, Logothetis went on to lead the department of neurology at the University of Salonica in Greece.

With time, the name of the Junior Award was changed to the S. Weir Mitchell Award, and in 1969 it was first presented to a woman, Margaret M. Waddington, MD, for “Angiographic Changes in Focal Motor Epilepsy.” Previously, Rebecca Hanson, MD, FAAN, who became an AAN member in 1967, won the Medical Student Essay Award in 1963.

The S. Weir Mitchell Award has appeared on the resumes of many illustrious AAN leaders and distinguished researchers, such as Robert W. Katzman, MD, (1960) who went on to receive the Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick’s, Alzheimer’s, and Related Diseases in 1992, and John C. Mazziotta, MD, PhD, FAAN, a recipient in 1981 and past chair of the American Brain Foundation.

Education Awards

A.B. Baker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Neurologic Education

Funded by an endowment created by matching funds from the A.B. Baker Family Trust and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Zachary London, MD, FAAN / University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

A.B. Baker Teacher Recognition Award

Jayant Acharya, MD, FAAN / UCSD, La Jolla, CA

Aileen Antonio, MD / Trinity Health

Saint Mary’s Hauenstein Neurosciences, Grand Rapids, MI

Sanaz Attaripour, MD, PhD, FAAN / University of California-Irvine, Orange, CA

Nancy Baker, MD / Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA

Throughout the decades, the AAN’s awards have recognized young, enterprising talent in research who went forth to become leaders in their fields, make new discoveries, and break scientific barriers.

Before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Psychology or Medicine, Stanley B. Prusiner, MD, gave the Cotzias Lecture in Basic Neuroscience at the 1987 Annual Meeting. At the time, his discovery of prions was beginning to gain recognition within the medical and scientific communities. Prusiner also received the 1991 Potamkin Prize as well as numerous other awards on his way to win the Nobel in 1997, and his work on prions had ostensibly become the biggest breakthrough during the “Decade of the Brain.”

Another noted neuroscientist, Eric R. Kandel, MD, was the Cotzias Lecturer in 1984, 16 years before he won the Nobel Prize.

Along with scientific research, AAN awards have grown to encompass recognition for achievements in neurology education and service to the specialty and to patients. Scholarship awards, too, have recognized the dreams of medical students who seek to learn more about neurology and opportunities in the profession by attending the Annual Meeting.

Today, the AAN recognizes the 2023 AAN award recipients and their contributions to the art and science of neurology.

Lauren Beslow, MD / Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Muhammad Fawad Bilal, MD / Owensboro Health, Owensboro, KY

Ania Busza, MD, FAAN / University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Joseph Carrera, MD, PhD, FAAN / University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Madeline Chadehumbe, MD, FAAN / Neurabilities, Voorhees, NJ

Marissa Dean, MD / University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

Wissam Deeb, MD, FAAN / UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, MA

Stephen English, MD / Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL

Prasanna Venkatesan Eswaradass, MD / University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS

Jorge Ortiz Garcia, MD / University of Miami, Miami, FL

Justin Hoskin, BA, C-TAGME / Barrow

Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ

Maryam Hosseini, MD, MPH, FAAN / University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Spencer Hutto, MD / Florida State University, Jacksonville, FL

Humaira Khan, MD / CAVHS, Little Rock, AR

Inna Keselman, MD / UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

Neil Masangkay, MD / University of Arkansas for the Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR

Alina Masters-Israilov, MD, FAAN / Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY

Sally Mathias, MD / University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Prachi Mehndiratta, MD, PhD, FAAN / University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Anza Memon, MD / Henry Ford Health System, Bloomfield Hills, MI

Mostafa Mahmoud Hassan Meshref, MD / Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Mokkattam City, Cairo, Egypt

Nicholas Milano, MD / Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Setareh Salehi Omran, MD / University of Colorado, Aurora, CO

Anna Pace, MD / Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

Addie Patterson, MD, FAAN / University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

David C. Preston, MD, FAAN / University Hospitals-Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH

Divisha Raheja, MD / St Luke’s University, Lansdale, PA

Necrisha Roach, MD, PhD, FAAN / University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Liana Rosenthal, MD / Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD

Vishwanath Sagi, MD / University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Sita Jayalakshmi Sattaluri, MD / Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Secunderabad, India

Nicholas Silvestri, MD, FAAN / University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY

Shitiz Sriwastawa, MD, FAAN / West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

Derek Stitt, MD, FAAN / Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Adnan Subei, DO, FAAN / Memorial Healthcare System, Hollywood, FL

Anishee Undavia, MD / Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Mauricio Villamar, MD / Brown Neurology, Providence, RI

Association of Indian Neurologists in America Lifetime Achievement Award

Sponsored by the Association of Indian Neurologists in America Fund of the American Brain Foundation.

Sanjay P. Singh, MD, FAAN, FANA / Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE

Clerkship Director Innovation Award

Jamie LaBuzetta, MD / University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA

Clerkship Director Teaching Award

Norika Malhado-Chang, MD / University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Clerkship Education Coordinator Recognition Award

Alex Gough / McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Brigitte H. Nettles / University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK

Consortium of Neurology Residents and Fellows Essay Contest

Yasmin Aghajan, MD / Harvard Medical School, Mass General Hospital, Cambridge, MA

Creative Expression of Human Values in Neurology Award

Sponsored by the Ethics, Law, and Humanities, a joint committee of the AAN, ANA, and CNS.

Lealani Mae Acosta / Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Director Mentorship Leadership Program

Aileen Antonio, MD / Trinity Health

Saint Mary’s Hauenstein Neurosciences, Grand Rapids, MI

Kapil Arya, MD / UAMS-Pediatric Neurology, Little Rock, AR

Rae E. Bacharach, DO / Penn State University, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA

Laxman Bahroo, DO, FAAN / Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, McLean, VA

Mark D. Baker, MD / GWU Neurology, Washington, DC

Danny Bega, MD / Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Annapoorna Bhat, MD / University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM

A. Blake Buletko, MD / Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

Elizabeth A. Coon, MD, FAAN / Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Suzanne Crandall, DO / Charleston Area Medical Center, Charleston, WV

William Alexander Dalrymple, MD / University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA

Zain Guduru, MD / University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Jafar Kafaie, MD, PhD / Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO

Adrienne M. Keener, MD / UCLA Neurology, Los Angeles, CA

Thomas Vincent Kodankandath, MD / Carilion Clinic Neurology, Roanoke, VA

Pearce Korb, MD, FAAN / VCU Health, Richmond, VA

Arielle Marisa Kurzweil, MD, FAAN / NYU, New York, NY

Max R. Lowden, MD, FAAN / Penn State University, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA

Soe Mar, MD, FAAN / Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO

Tara K. Mangum, DO / Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix, AZ

Neil Masangkay, MD / University of Arkansas for the Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR

Maryann Mays, MD, FAAN / Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

Lisa R. Merlin, MD, FAAN / SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY

Aaron Lane Nelson, MD, FAAN / NYU Langone Health, New York, NY

Ajitesh Ojha, MD / UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA

Michael L. Palm, MD, FAAN / UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX

Sonja Potrebic, MD, PhD, FAAN / Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Los Angeles, CA

David Preston, MD, FAAN / University Hospitals-Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH

Joel Isaac Shenker, MD, PhD / University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

Jacqueline Stone, MD / Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Kavitha Tirumalasetti, MD / Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix, AZ

Diego Torres-Russotto, MD, FAAN / Miami Neuroscience Institute-Baptist Health South Florida, Miami, FL

Melanie Truong-Le, DO / UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX

Alan Wang, MD / Banner University Medical Center-Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ

Christina Wilson, MD, FAAN / University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Edward Yu, MD / Northwell Health, Staten Island, NY