Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi, chair of the Department of Surgery, has been named president-elect of the American Surgical Association. Founded in 1880, the association is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious surgical organization. Its members include the nation’s most prominent surgeons from the country's leading academic medical institutions.
Dr. Chibuikem Ikwuegbuenyi, research associate in neurological surgery, was awarded the Charles Tator Spinal Cord Injury Resident Research Award by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. His work was recognized as the highest-rated abstract in spinal cord injury research submitted by a trainee.
Dr. Aryeh Zolin, resident in the Department of Neurology, was named a 2025 Leon Levy Scholar in Neuroscience by the New York Academy of Sciences and the Leon Levy Foundation. The initiative supports early-career scientists conducting pioneering neuroscience research throughout New York City. Dr. Zolin was recognized for his work examining how the pathology that drives neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease is transmitted between neurons and spreads through neural circuits.
Rana Barghout, third year medical student, was awarded the RAMS Medical Student Education/Innovation Award by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. The honor recognizes Barghout’s dedication, leadership and innovative work in academic emergency medicine. In addition, Barghout won the ABIM Foundation’s 2025 Building Trust Essay Contest for her essay "The Weight of Words." Essays were submitted by current and future physicians, nurses, physician assistants and others from more than 80 institutions across the country and were reviewed and scored by panel of judges representing a wide swath of the health care system. The ABIM Foundation will honor Barghout during its Reimagining Professionalism: Hope in a Shifting Medical Landscape forum July 26-29 in San Diego.