The American Stroke Association recognized 11 leading scientists for their outstanding contributions to stroke and brain health research and care during the International Stroke Conference 2026, held February 3-6 in New Orleans. The awards honor individuals whose work has advanced the understanding and treatment of stroke, a leading cause of death and disability worldwide.
Among the honorees, Bruce Ovbiagele, M.D., M.Sc., M.A.S., M.B.A., M.L.S., FAHA, from the University of California, San Francisco, received the Edgar J. Kenton III Lecture Award for his lifetime work on racial and ethnic stroke disparities. Pooja Khatri, M.D., M.Sc., FAHA, of Yale University, was awarded the William M. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke for her leadership in stroke clinical trials. Raghu Vemuganti, Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received the Thomas Willis Lecture Award for his basic science research on ischemic brain damage mechanisms.
Kazunori Toyoda, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA, from the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Japan, was honored with the Ralph L. Sacco Outstanding Stroke Research Mentor Award for his mentorship of future stroke researchers. Seemant Chaturvedi, M.D., of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, received the David G. Sherman Lecture Award for his contributions to stroke prevention and treatment. Amar Dhand, M.D., Ph.D., from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, earned the Stroke Rehabilitation Award for developing a machine learning algorithm to measure social interactions in stroke survivors.
Soomin Jeong, Ph.D., from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, received the Stroke Basic Science Award for her research on restoring the blood-brain barrier after stroke using nanoparticle therapy. Zhe Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., from Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University, was given the Robert G. Siekert New Investigator Award for his study on vertebrobasilar artery cooling infusion for neuroprotection after endovascular therapy. Daniela Renedo, M.D., from Yale School of Medicine, received the Mordecai Y.T. Globus New Investigator Award for her work on decoding the etiology of embolic ischemic stroke through genomic and proteomic analyses.
Zhiyu (Roman) Yan, M.S., a Ph.D. student at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, was awarded the Vascular Cognitive Impairment Award for his research on plasma proteomic signatures shared across cerebrovascular diseases and cognitive decline. Sheng Zhang, Ph.D., from Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital in China, received the Stroke Care in Emergency Medicine Award for his study on the cost-effectiveness of prehospital blood pressure lowering in intracerebral hemorrhage patients.
The awards were presented during the International Stroke Conference 2026, a premier global meeting for stroke and brain health researchers. According to the American Heart Association's 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, stroke is now the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., underscoring the importance of these research efforts. The Association's strict policies ensure that its science content remains independent of corporate funding, which can include pharmaceutical and device manufacturers (financial information).
More details on the awardees and their research can be found on the International Stroke Conference online program planner. The American Stroke Association continues to fund innovative research and advocate for equitable stroke care (stroke.org).
