Honors & Awards
Celebrating our teams' accomplishments
Honors
March 09, 2026: Congratulations to the ALK Initiative Clinical Lead Dr. Angel Qin, MD on her appointment as Head of the Upper Aerodigestive Tract Oncology Section.
November 14, 2025: Congratulations to Hassan Zbib on his acceptance to Michigan State University’s medical school! We wish Hassan a bright future as a doctor as he embarks on this exciting new chapter. Well done, Hassan!
May 17, 2024: ALK Initiative Project 1 Co-Leader Dr. Nathan Merrill, Ph.D. promoted to Research Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan.
May 17, 2024: ALK Initiative Clinical Lead Dr. Angel Qin, MD promoted to Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Michigan.
February 17, 2023: Dr. Marisa Aikins, Ph.D. is selected as a Cancer Biology NIH-T32 postdoctoral fellow for support of her work on the Judith Tam ALK Lung Cancer Research Initiative.
August 14, 2023: Dr. Andrew G. Shuman, MD, FACS, HEC-C appointed Assistant Dean for Veteran Affairs in the medical school. Shuman is an associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, associate chief of staff for education at the VA Ann Arbor Health System (VAAAHS), and co-chief of the clinical ethics service in the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine.
Awards
May 08, 2026: Dr. Ananya Banerjee received an Honorable Mention Poster Award at Michigan Medicine's Department of Internal Medicine Research Day for her poster, Quaratusugene ozeplasmid mediated TUSC2 upregulation in EML4-ALK bearing non-small cell lung carcinoma induces apoptosis and is highly effective in preclinical studies.
May 06, 2026: We are thrilled to congratulate our study team member Dr. Peggy Hsu, MD, PhD, on receiving the 2026 American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Physician-Scientist Award. Dr. Hsu’s pioneering work as a thoracic oncologist and stem cell biologist is especially meaningful to our team and closely aligned with the mission of our Research Initiative. Her research is helping advance human-relevant models to better understand the earliest cellular changes in never-smoking, fusion-driven lung cancer. We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved recognition and grateful for her contributions to our shared work!
April 01, 2026: We’re delighted to share that Dr. Ananya Banerjee, Ph.D. earned a poster award at this year’s Department of Internal Medicine Annual Research Symposium for her abstract, Quaratusugene ozeplasmid–mediated TUSC2 upregulation in EML4-ALK–bearing non–small cell lung carcinoma induces apoptosis and is highly effective in preclinical studies. Ananya Banerjee, Ph.D, Neeke Busette, Xu Cheng, MBBS, Kerslee Kohagen, Mark S. Berger, MD., Matthew B. Soellner, Ph.D., Angel Qin, MD., Sofia E. Merajver, M.D., Ph.D., Nathan M. Merrill, Ph.D. Poster.
April, 2025
Hamadi Madhi, Ph.D., received an Honorable Mention Poster Award for presenting Combretastatin A-4 Enhances EGFR Inhibitor Efficacy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
AUTHORS: Hamadi Madhi, Nathalie Vandecan, Athena Apfel, Habib Serhan, Peter Ulintz, Liwei Bao, Xu Cheng, Aki Morikawa, Matt Soellner, Sofia Merajver*, Nathan Merrill) at the Department of Internal Medicine Annual Research Symposium 2025
Merajver Lab undergraduates Sohair Holman and William Bieneman awarded Blue Ribbon for research on cell signaling pathways in EML4-ALK+ NSCLC at the UROP 2024 Spring Research Symposium.
February 06, 2023: Dr. Angel Qin receives the prestigious University of Michigan Wicha Award for Early-Mid-Career Investigator from the Division of Hematology Oncology.
December 01, 2022: Dr. Angel Qin is one of three recipients to receive the prestigious 2022 ALK Positive/LUNGevity ALK Positive Lung Cancer Research Award.
These grants, totaling $1.75 million, seek to transform ALK-positive lung cancer outcomes into a chronic or curable condition through continued support of translational and clinical trial research. This funded research award will allow Dr. Qin to evaluate a novel drug called gilteritinib as a treatment in patients with ALK-positive NSCLC whose tumors have developed resistance to lorlatinib.
