The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus honored recipients of the 2025 CU Anschutz Research Awards on Feb. 19 during a hybrid ceremony. An annual event established during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony is now in its fourth year.
“What we recognized (during the pandemic) is that there were a lot of people in the research community who were doing an awful lot to support our research mission,” said Thomas Flaig, MD, vice chancellor for research. “We had such a positive turnout at our first awards ceremony that we decided to make it an annual event. It's a wonderful way to recognize excellence in research within our faculty, staff and students.”
More than 250 nominations were submitted across seven award categories, reflecting the depth and strength of research at CU Anschutz.
Flaig and John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA, dean of the CU School of Medicine, presented the awards along with Lori Sussel, PhD, associate vice chancellor for basic science, and Jori Leszczynski, DVM, assistant vice chancellor for laboratory animal research – both of whom oversaw the process of the award nomination reviews.
The celebration closed with remarks by Chancellor Don Elliman, who presented the second annual Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Lectureship Awards. “We talk about the fact that this institution has three basic missions: clinical care, research and education,” said Elliman. “Research, in my mind, is actually at the heart of that, and it will continue to be at the heart of that.”
2025 CU Anschutz Research Award Winners
Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Lectureship Award: Recognizes extraordinary research accomplishments by CU Anschutz faculty. It is intended to showcase impactful and innovative research from any research discipline. This award includes a subsequent celebration and lecture.
- Nanette Santoro, MD, professor and E. Stewart Taylor Chair, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, CU School of Medicine
- David Bentley, PhD, professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, CU School of Medicine
Research Mentor Award: Recognizes a member of CU Anschutz for their dedicated and extraordinary efforts to mentor others in their research careers. This award is intended to recognize mentoring of faculty, staff and/or students.
- Richard Benninger, PhD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, CU School of Medicine; Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes; associate professor, Department of Bioengineering, CU Denver College of Engineering, Design and Computing
- Raul Torres, PhD, professor, Department of Immunology & Microbiology, CU School of Medicine
Trainee Research Excellence Award: Recognizes a trainee’s accomplishments for their excellence in conducting research and scholarly activity that is creative and impactful. It is intended for scholars who show great potential for future research impact during their training.
- Basic Science: Parker Nichols, PhD, undergraduate student mentor, Vögeli Lab, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, CU School of Medicine
- Clinical/Translational: Ahmad Hider, MD, Department of Surgery, CU School of Medicine
Research Administration Award: Recognizes an administrative staff member who consistently goes above and beyond to advance research excellence and keeps operations running smoothly across CU Anschutz.
- Shannon Onken, research services principal professional, Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Physical Therapy Program, CU School of Medicine
Steven Fadul Award: Recognizes professional research associates who are self-directed, highly technically competent, professional, supportive and have given outstanding service to the CU School of Medicine.
- Jeffrey Kavanaugh, PhD, research associate, Department of Immunology & Microbiology, CU School of Medicine
Research Staff Collaborator Award: Recognizes an individual staff member for their outstanding contribution in research collaboration. Specifically, it highlights effective research collaborations within and across disciplines utilizing innovative and cooperative approaches to the process of scientific discovery.
- Mingjie Zhu, DAOM, MPH, research service senior professional, Department of Orthopedics, CU School of Medicine
Rising Star Research Award: Recognizes a junior faculty member who is emerging as a leader in research through significant discoveries and original scholarship. This is designed for researchers in the first three years of their appointment.
- Ian Stanley, PhD, assistant professor-research, Department of Emergency Medicine, CU School of Medicine
- Joanne Cole, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics, CU School of Medicine
Research Collaboration Team Award: Recognizes a team for their outstanding contribution in research collaboration. It highlights effective research collaborations within and across disciplines utilizing a team approach to scientific discovery that brings together different perspectives for greater success and impact.
- Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome
- Joaquin Espinosa, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacology, CU School of Medicine
- Kelly Sullivan, PhD, associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, CU School of Medicine
- Angela Rachubinski, PhD, assistant research professor, Department of Pediatrics, CU School of Medicine
- Matthew Galbraith, PhD, assistant research professor, Department of Pharmacology, CU School of Medicine
Photo at top: From left to right (presenters), Lori Sussel, Thomas Flaig and Jori Leszczynski; and (awardees) Joaquin Espinosa, Mingjie Zhu, Joanne Cole, Ian Stanley, Nanette Santoro, Richard Benninger, Ahmad Hider, Jeffrey Kavanaugh, Shannon Onken, Kelly Sullivan, Raul Torres, Angela Rachubinski and Matthew Galbraith.