Clinical/Laboratory Research Professional Award
Nominations due: August 22, 2022 by 5pm

Many of our UC College of Medicine staff serve our research mission in a way that vastly transforms productivity and drives the research enterprise. To recognize this service the CoM Office of Research is soliciting nominations for the Clinical Research Professional Award and the Laboratory Research Professional Award. A single award will be presented to each a clinical and a laboratory research employee who, in the opinion of the CoM research leadership, shows an outstanding commitment to advancing the CoM research mission. The recipients of this recognition will be honored with an award of $1,000. 

Application requirements for either award

To be considered, the nominating application must be in the form of a single pdf that includes the following:

• Cover sheet (include name, email address, professional title, department, and contact information of those who provided a recommendation),
• A letter of recommendation from CoM faculty supervisor (not to exceed three pages),
• Nominee’s CV Clinical CV Example and Laboratory CV Example)
  • Optional: Include a table with the following information for which more detail is given in the CV and which includes only work for a UC CoM principal investigator: number of years of service, publications/manuscripts, poster presentations, oral presentations, clinical trials, UC, national, or international committees.
  • Optional: Include a paragraph of self-assessment (1/2-page limit) that would describe your contribution and why you deserve the award.
• Optional: Up to three additional letters of recommendation (not necessarily from CoM employees; each letter not to exceed two pages).

These are two separate and distinct awards. Applicants should further review the Clinical Research Professional Award RFA or the Laboratory Research Professional Award RFA for specific information unique to each award. Nominations should be submitted electronically through the submission portal. Questions should be sent to Brieanne Sheehan.

This award was conceived and is administered by our research professionals including faculty and staff. This award is funded by the CoM Office of Research and your donations. Please consider donating to the CoM Research Professional Award Fund so that we may continue to honor our research professionals. Give today!

2021 Research Professional Awardees

Clinical Research Professional Awardee

Clinical Research Professional Awardee 

Abigail Koehler, BS

Nominated by: Soma Sengupta, MD, PhD, FRCP; Claudia Rebola, PhD; Meera Rastogi, PhD, MAAT, ATR-BC, GCP

Abigail (Abby) Koehler is a clinical research professional in the Division of Neuro-Oncology. Her primary roles include initiating clinical trials for oncology patients and supporting the Neuro-Oncology clinic in UC’s Brain Tumor Center as a cognitive tester. Abby assists in writing IRB protocols and grant applications for clinical studies and aids in clinical trial implementation. Currently, Abby is working on the ARMCan and ARTCan/ARCCan studies which aim to combat cognition impairments resulting from chemotherapy in breast cancer patients and mood issues in brain tumor patients suffering from hearing loss. Her responsibilities include supporting patient recruitment, administering study measurements, and reviewing subject compliance and study data. Aside from her work with clinical trials, Abby authors case studies, scientific reviews, and clinical research manuscripts. Most recently, she has collaborated on a book that will share the journeys of brain tumor patients and the resources available for them at UC. Abby is very passionate about patient advocacy and cancer survivorship. Her future goal is to attend medical school to continue working in the field of oncology.  

Laboratory Research Professional Awardee

Michelle Nieman, BS

Nomination by: John N. Lorenz, PhD; Sakthivel Sadayappan, PhD, MBA; Richard Becker, MD, FAHA; Joanne Tetens Woodring, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVS, DACLAM;

Michelle Nieman has been employed at the University of Cincinnati for over twenty-five years. Currently, she is working as a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology.  Michelle provides surgical assistance and training to faculty, post-docs, and graduate students at the university.  As part of the Murine Physiology Core, under the direction of Dr. John Lorenz, she has been able to develop close collaborations with multiple investigators at UC and elsewhere. Her primary focus has been generating chronic surgical models of disease including cardiac hypertrophy, ischemic injury, and systemic hypertension. She also utilizes various in vivo and ex vivo techniques to analyze cardiovascular and renal phenotypes in genetically mutated mice.