In June 2026, 20 early career faculty members were selected to receive Johns Hopkins Catalyst Awards, an honor that is accompanied by a $100,000 grant, mentoring opportunities, and institutional recognition.
This year’s Catalyst Award recipients are leading a diverse range of innovative research initiatives including developing organoid models to study how pathogens infect and spread in human tissues, assessing the safety of early mobilization for children after anesthesia, and exploring how to develop more fire-resistant housing designs combining physics and machine learning.
These experts represent departments 17 across the institution, including Biomedical Engineering, Epidemiology, Finance, Physics and Astronomy, Dermatology, and Neurosurgery.
Gira Bhabha, Biology, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
Thomas Gernay, Civil and Systems Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
Marjan Gharagozloo, Neurology, School of Medicine
Michael Goldstein, Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, School of Medicine
Deeksha Gupta, Finance, Carey Business School
Sudath Hapuarachchige, Radiology and Radiological Science, School of Medicine
Reza Kalhor, Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine
Jun Kang, Dermatology, School of Medicine
Lan Li, History of Medicine, School of Medicine
Dingchang Lin, Materials Science and Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
Utthara Nayar, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Caitlin O’Brien, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine
Corey Oses, Materials Science and Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
Karisa Schreck, Neurology, School of Medicine
Cecília Tomori, Nursing, School of Nursing
Samuel Vanderhoek, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine
Thi Vo, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
Genevieve Wojcik, Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Joseph Young, Ensembles and Conducting, Peabody Institute
Yahui Zhang, Physics and Astronomy, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
