The American Stroke Association will honor 11 top scientists in stroke and brain health during the International Stroke Conference 2026, held in New Orleans from Feb. 3-6. The awards recognize individual achievements in research, mentorship, and clinical care, underscoring the ongoing efforts to reduce the burden of stroke worldwide.
Among the honorees, Bruce Ovbiagele, M.D., M.Sc., of the University of California, San Francisco, will receive the Edgar J. Kenton III Lecture Award for his lifetime contributions to addressing racial and ethnic stroke disparities. Pooja Khatri, M.D., M.Sc., from Yale University, will be awarded the William M. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke, recognizing her work in clinical research innovations. Raghu Vemuganti, Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will receive the Thomas Willis Lecture Award for his basic science research on ischemic brain damage.
Kazunori Toyoda, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Japan, will be honored with the Ralph L. Sacco Outstanding Stroke Research Mentor Award, while 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.
Six additional scientists will be recognized for new research findings presented at the conference. Amar Dhand, M.D., Ph.D., from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will receive the Stroke Rehabilitation Award for validating a machine learning algorithm to measure social interactions in stroke survivors. Soomin Jeong, Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania, will receive the Stroke Basic Science Award for research on restoring the blood-brain barrier using nanoparticle therapy.
Zhe Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., from Beijing Luhe Hospital, will receive the Robert G. Siekert New Investigator Award for a study on vertebrobasilar artery cooling infusion for neuroprotection after endovascular therapy. Daniela Renedo, M.D., from Yale School of Medicine, will receive the Mordecai Y.T. Globus New Investigator Award for genomic and proteomic analyses of embolic ischemic stroke. Zhiyu (Roman) Yan, M.S., a Ph.D. student at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, will receive the Vascular Cognitive Impairment Award for identifying plasma proteomic signatures shared across cerebrovascular diseases and cognitive decline. Sheng Zhang, Ph.D., from Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, will receive the Stroke Care in Emergency Medicine Award for a cost-effectiveness analysis of prehospital blood pressure lowering in intracerebral hemorrhage patients.
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 conference provides a platform for presenting preliminary findings that may shape future stroke care and research.
Statements and conclusions of studies presented at the meeting are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. Abstracts are not peer-reviewed but are curated by independent review panels. The findings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
