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Research Recognition

AURI Research Awards

Each year in the Fall, we take the time to recognize Augusta University faculty members who have contributed significantly to research in the following categories:

  • Emerging Scientist Award
  • Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity Award
  • Distinguished Research Award(s)
  • Lifetime Achievement Award

 

2026 Recipients  Previous Recipients

2026 Recipients

award icon Lifetime Achievement Award

photo of Dr. Neal Weintraub

Dr. Neal Weintraub

  • Department of Medicine: Cardiology

Education

MD, Medicine, Tulane University, 1984

 

Research Interests

Cardiovascular disease and cancer often occur in the same people, potentially in large part because the two very common conditions share risk factors like obesity, which promotes inflammation, a key driver for both.

award icon Distinguished Researcher Award

photo of Zheng Dong, PhD

Zheng Dong, PhD

  • Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Education

Ph.D. Physiology, Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences -- 1994

B.Sc. Microbiology, Fudan University, Shanghai, P.R. China -- 1989

 

Research Interests

The long-term goal of our research is to delineate the mechanism of cell death, its protection, and subsequent regeneration during kidney injury and kidney repair. Our current work is focused on mitochondria, metabolism, autophagy, and epigenetic regulation in disease conditions of acute kidney injury and diabetic kidney disease. As of August 1, 2023, we have published 350 full-length articles with a Google Scholar H-index of 94. The publications, including 262 original papers and 88 invited reviews and commentaries, have been cited more than 38,000 times, attesting the contribution to the field of kidney injury and repair in renal diseases and, cell death in general.


award icon Emerging Scientist Award

photo of Ranya El Sayed, BDS, PhD, MBA

Ranya El Sayed, BDS, PhD, MBA

  • Department of
  • Periodontics

Education 

MBA, Business Administration, Augusta University -- 2020 

PhD Oral Biology and Oral Maxi, Augusta University -- 2019

BDS, Dental and Oral Surgery Speciality, Ain Shams University -- 2006

 

Research Interests

Oral Health and Disease

award icon Outstanding Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Award

photo of E. Nicole Meyer, PhD

E. Nicole Meyer, PhD

  • Department of
  • English & World Languages

Education

Ph.D., Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania -- 1988

MA, Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania -- 1983

BA, French Language and Literature, University of Wisconsin - Madi -- 1980

 

Research Interests

E. Nicole Meyer is Professor of French and Women’s and Gender Studies at Augusta University, having Chaired the Department of English and Foreign Languages. Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes académiques, she is currently completing Fractured Families in French and Francophone Women’s Autobiography. Her co-edited volume Teaching Diversity and Inclusion: Examples from a French Classroom (Routledge 2022) appeared in July 2021, and follows her co-edited volume, Rethinking the French Classroom: New Approaches to Teaching Contemporary French and Francophone Women (Routledge 2019). In 2025, she co-edited two special issues, one for South Atlantic Review (June 2025) and another for Rocky Mountain Review (December 2025). She is the 2021 recipient of the Louis K. Bell Award and publishes on a wide array of topics from French and Francophone women’s autobiography to Flaubert, French for Specific Purposes, Service-Learning, contemporary French cinema and 19th-, 20th- and 21st- century French and Francophone literature. She is editor of French, Francophone and Comparative Literatures for the Rocky Mountain Review and Chair of the national AATF Commission on French for Specific Purposes. She served as Vice-President of Women In French, an international organization and is active nationally, serving on multiple committees that support the profession.

Previous Recipients

2024

  • Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity Award
    Vinata B. Lokeshwar, PhD
    Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Emerging Scientist Award
    Danielle Mor, PhD
    Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine
  • Distinguished Researcher Award
    Yutao Liu, MD, PhD, FARVO
    Cellular Biology and Anatomy 
  • Lifetime Achievement Award
    Carlos M. Isales, MD
    Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine

2023

  • Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity Award
    Gang Zhou, PhD
    Medical College of Georgia
    Hematology and Oncology
  • Emerging Scientist Award
    Jessica Faulkner, PhD
    Medical College of Georgia
    Physiology and Endocrinology
  • Distinguished Researcher Award
    Gabor Csanyi, PharmD, PhD
    Medical College of Georgia
    Pharmacology & Toxicology
  • Lifetime Achievement Award
    Mark Hamrick, PhD
    Medical College of Georgia
    Cellular Biology and Anatomy
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