Awards & Honors

The Women Faculty Organization of Feinberg School of Medicine  has announced this year’s winner of the eighth annual Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine, established by the Department of Pharmacology in conjunction with the WFO. The award is in honor of Dr. Paula Stern’s 50 years of scientific accomplishments and dedicated service to Feinberg, and is given annually to an FSM woman faculty member who has spent a significant portion of her career at Northwestern, has exhibited successful basic, translational, or clinical research, strong leadership at a local, national or international level in her field, and who has an exemplary track record of inspiring and mentoring trainees and/or young investigators.

Kristy L. Townsend, PhD and Maya S. Iyer, MD, MEd, FAAP were honored as the Women Faculty Organization's 2024 Visiting Scholars. They presented the lecture “Growth and Expansion of Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) at The Ohio State University College of Medicine: A Model for Large Academic Institutions.”

Dr. Kristy Townsend and Dr. Maya Iyer organized the inaugural CommUNITYten Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) for Women in Medicine and Biomedical Science Conference at Ohio State in June 2024.

Kristy L. Townsend, PhD is an Associate Professor with tenure, a PhD neuroscientist, and PI of the Neurobiology & Energy Balance laboratory at The Ohio State University’s Department of Neurological Surgery. The lab is focused on how the brain and peripheral nerves control metabolic health, the role of brain-adipose neural communication in obesity and diabetes, mechanisms of peripheral neuropathy with metabolic disease or aging, and novel diagnostic and treatment options for neuropathy. The lab also has numerous projects focused on a women’s health perspective. Dr. Townsend is founder of the Translational Research in NeuroMetabolism Symposium (TRINS) held at Ohio State each spring, which brings together international researchers across the basic-translational-clinical spectrum working on topics in neurometabolism. Beyond the lab, Dr. Townsend has a long history of service and leadership work focused on gender impartiality in the academic setting. Previously at University of Maine, Dr. Townsend was the recipient of a Rising Tide Professorship (partly supported by the university’s NSF-ADVANCE Rising Tide Center), which enabled her to found the university’s first group for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (or, WiSTEMM). In 2022, Dr. Townsend became the first Director of Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) in the College of Medicine at Ohio State, when the organization became a distinct entity under faculty affairs, with a dedicated and autonomous budget. During this 3-year term, WIMS led a Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) initiative nationally to support women in biomedical science and medicine, which culminated in the first CommUNITYten conference at Ohio State in 2024 with nearly 200 attendees and representation from 10 universities and multiple industry members.

Maya S. Iyer, MD, MEd is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine (OSUCOM) and a board-certified Pediatric Emergency Medicine attending physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH). She is the Assistant Dean for Clinical Faculty and Associate Director for Women in Medicine and Science at OSU and was Director of Emergency Medicine Faculty Development at NCH from 2020-2024. She holds a master’s degree in medical education and has a passion for medical education and medical education research, particularly as it relates to faculty development, faculty affairs, maintenance of certification and self-directed, life-long learning. She has published extensively in medical education research and mentored numerous trainees. Aside from medical education, she is an externally funded researcher focusing on workforce culture issues, particularly gender-based bullying in academic medicine and has given several invited talks on this topic. Nationally, she serves on the Pediatric Emergency Sub Board for the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Emergency Medicine Women in Pediatric Emergency Medicine Career Development Subcommittee, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Faculty Affairs, and the AAMC Group on Women in Medicine and Science. She was a 2019-2020 Visiting Scholar for the American Board of Medical Specialties and a 2021 recipient of the American Medical Association’s Inspiration Award.

The Women Faculty Organization of Feinberg School of Medicine has announced this year’s winner of the seventh annual Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine, established by the Department of Pharmacology in conjunction with the WFO. The award is in honor of Dr. Paula Stern’s 50 years of scientific accomplishments and dedicated service to Feinberg, and is given annually to an FSM woman faculty member who has spent a significant portion of her career at Northwestern, has exhibited successful basic, translational, or clinical research, strong leadership at a local, national or international level in her field, and who has an exemplary track record of inspiring and mentoring trainees and/or young investigators.

After careful evaluation of many worthy nominees, this year’s Paula H. Stern Award recipient is Lauren ("Laurie") S. Wakschlag, PhD, Founding Director of the Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences (DevSci), Professor and Vice Chair for Scientific and Faculty Development in the Department of Medical Social Sciences (Division of Determinants of Health), and Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Psychology and Human Development and Social Policy.

Read more here.

Carmen Renee Green, MD is Dean of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine. Located at the historic City College of New York, she is also the Bert Brodsky Chair, Medical Professor of Community Health and Social Medicine, and Professor in the Colin Powell School of Global and Civic Engagement.

Dr. Green received her MD from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. She completed an Anesthesiology residency, subspecialty training in Ambulatory and Obstetrical Anesthesia, and a Pain Medicine fellowship at the University of Michigan Health System. Working in the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Children and Families Subcommittee, she helped draft the National Pain Care Policy Act, incorporated in the Affordable Care Act and was thanked in the Congressional Record by Senator Kennedy for contributions to the FDA reauthorization, i.e. including gender and race variables to assess outcomes.

At the nexus of public health and healthcare quality, access, and policy, Dr. Green’s health policy relevant and health services research agenda focuses on pain and the social determinants of health. She is the author of germinal and seminal papers that poignantly reveal disparities, variability in decision-making, and diminished health care quality; revealing suboptimal access to health and pain care across the life course for women and vulnerable populations. An innovator, she often uses narrative medicine and photo voice techniques to promote empathy and healing. Dr. Green published a selective review focusing on the unequal burden of pain in Pain Medicine which remains the most cited article in the journal’s history and was the guest editor for its special issue on disparities. She was the first to identify hospital security errors.

The Women Faculty Organization of Feinberg School of Medicine has announced this year’s winner of the sixth annual Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine, established by the Department of Pharmacology in conjunction with the WFO. The award is in honor of Dr. Paula Stern’s 50 years of scientific accomplishments and dedicated service to Feinberg, and is given annually to an FSM woman faculty member who has exhibited successful basic, translational or clinical research, strong leadership at a local, national, and/or international level in her field, and as an exemplary role model inspires and mentors trainees and/or junior investigators.

After careful evaluation of many worthy nominees, the committee selected Mercedes R Carnethon, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine and Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Co-Director, Center on Education and Career Development NUCATS Institutes, as this year’s Paula H. Stern Award recipient.

Read more here.

Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD was honored as the Women Faculty Organization's 2022 Visiting Scholar. She presented the lecture "Surface Pressure: Women in Medicine and Hustle Culture."

Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD, is an accomplished academic psychiatrist, professor and distinguished chair of the department of rehabilitation medicine at the Long School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. 

Verduzco-Gutierrez grew up in South Texas, then moved to Houston where she earned her undergraduate degree at Rice University, her medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine and completed her physical medicine and rehabilitation residency training there. She joined UT-San Antonio to lead the department of rehabilitation medicine in 2020. Her area of clinical expertise is the care of patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke rehabilitation, interventional spasticity management and now long COVID. Verduzco-Gutierrez is also a passionate advocate for her field via social media channels. She has published over 70 articles and chapters on various topics such as spasticity and neurorecovery.

The Women Faculty Organization of Feinberg School of Medicine has selected Bonnie Spring, PhD, professor of Public Health and Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, as this year’s winner of the fifth annual Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine. The award, established by the Department of Pharmacology in conjunction with the WFO, is given annually in honor of Stern’s 50 years of scientific accomplishments and dedicated service to a Feinberg woman faculty member who has exhibited successful basic, translational or clinical research, strong leadership at a local, national and/or international level in her field, and as an exemplary role model who inspires and mentors trainees and/or junior investigators.

Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH was honored as the Women Faculty Organization's 2021 Visiting Scholar. She presented the lectures "Addressing health disparities through research and scholarship" and "Where is Your Yellow Brick Road?"

Dr. Fuentes-Afflick has been a UCSF faculty member since 1993. She is professor, vice chair and chief of Pediatrics at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and vice dean for Academic Affairs of the UCSF School of Medicine.

As a pediatrician and epidemiologist, Dr. Fuentes-Afflick has conducted research studies focused on issues of acculturation, immigrant health and health disparities. She is also interested in the portrayal of body mass images in Latinx television media, principally in telenovelas.

Jessica J. Kandel, MD, was honored as the Women Faculty Organization's 2019 Visiting Scholar. She presented the lecture "Serendipity — Adventures in Translational Research."

Kandel is the surgeon-in-chief at University of Chicago Medical Center Comer Children's Hospital, Mary Campau Ryerson Professor of Surgery and Chief, Section of Pediatric Surgery. She is a member of University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center and specializes in the treatment of pediatric cancers, including Wilms tumor, neuroblastoma and hepatoblastoma and vascular anomalies (hemangiomas, venous malformations, lymphatic malformations).