The American Stroke Association will honor 11 top scientists in stroke and brain health for their individual professional achievements during the International Stroke Conference 2026, held in New Orleans from Feb. 3-6. The awards recognize groundbreaking researchers and emerging scientists for their contributions to stroke care, research, and mentorship.
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, will receive the Edgar J. Kenton III Lecture Award for his lifetime contributions to reducing racial and ethnic stroke disparities. Pooja Khatri, M.D., M.Sc., FAHA, from Yale University, will receive the William M. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke for her work in clinical stroke research. Raghu Vemuganti, Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will receive the Thomas Willis Lecture Award for his basic science research on ischemic stroke mechanisms.
Kazunori Toyoda, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA, from the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Japan, will receive the Ralph L. Sacco Outstanding Stroke Research Mentor Award for mentoring future stroke researchers. Seemant Chaturvedi, M.D., from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will receive 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, will receive the Stroke Rehabilitation Award for his research on measuring social interactions in stroke survivors using a machine learning algorithm.
Soomin Jeong, Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania, will receive the Stroke Basic Science Award for her research on restoring the blood-brain barrier after stroke. Zhe Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., from Capital Medical University in China, will receive the Robert G. Siekert New Investigator Award in Stroke for his study on neuroprotection after endovascular therapy. Daniela Renedo, M.D., from Yale School of Medicine, will receive the Mordecai Y.T. Globus New Investigator Award for her work on decoding embolic ischemic stroke etiology.
Zhiyu (Roman) Yan, M.S., from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, will receive the Vascular Cognitive Impairment Award for his research on plasma proteomic signatures in cerebrovascular diseases. Sheng Zhang, Ph.D., from Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital in China, will receive the Stroke Care in Emergency Medicine Award for his cost-effectiveness analysis of prehospital blood pressure lowering in intracerebral hemorrhage patients.
The conference is a premier event for stroke researchers and clinicians, highlighting the latest scientific advances. According to the American Heart Association's 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, stroke is now the #4 leading cause of death in the U.S. The awards underscore the importance of continued research to improve stroke prevention, treatment, and brain health. More information about the conference and awardees is available in the online program planner.
