Research for a Cure: 2024 NPF Grant and Fellowship Awards

July 8, 2024 – Alexandria, Virginia

The National Psoriasis Foundation – the worldwide nonprofit leader in psoriatic disease research funding – is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 NPF Research Grants and Fellowships Awards. The aims of each of these research investigations advance the NPF mission and strategic plan goals to cure psoriatic disease and act immediately to optimize the health of all those affected.

NPF research programs address the root causes and therapeutic approaches to psoriasis and related conditions, including comorbidities. A prevalent comorbidity of psoriasis is psoriatic arthritis (PsA), which affects 1 in 3 people with psoriasis and represents 40% of the NPF’s 2024 research awards. Other related conditions addressed in the new awards include the relationship between psoriasis and infection, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic diseases.

For more than two decades, NPF has cultivated a remarkable track record of investing in research projects that proceed to receive substantial subsequent funding from organizations like the National Institutes of Health (NIH). By seeding impactful projects led by exceptional investigators, NPF is able to realize a significant return on investment for its community of 125 million people worldwide living with psoriatic disease. This helps grow the research and clinical workforce by sustaining the focus of talented clinicians and researchers on curing and treating psoriatic disease. NPF-funded research has resulted in over 800 publications to date, representing thousands of original insights and data in the pursuit of a cure.

“NPF’s approach to grant funding helps us have an outsized impact in the field of psoriatic disease research. We are guided by the expertise of leading investigators, clinicians and people who live with the disease. Their leadership helps ensure advancement toward NPF’s strategic plan, driving progress towards a cure,” says Guy Eakin, Ph.D. the Chief Scientific and Medical Officer for NPF.

“Congratulations to the recipients of NPF’s 2024 Research Grants and Fellowships,” says Leah M. Howard, J.D., the President and CEO of NPF. “Your work will get us closer to a cure while helping NPF optimize the health of all of us who live with this challenging disease. In addition to advancing research, NPF also remains relentlessly committed to ensuring that everyone with psoriasis or PsA can access and afford their care and treatments. When these research projects result in new treatments and better modes of care, we must make sure that all people can obtain them affordably.”

NPF awards translational, discovery, early career, and fellowships annually. Bridge grants are awarded bi-annually in alignment with the NIH timeline. Congratulations to the recipients of this year’s awards.

2024 NPF Research Grant and Fellowship Awards

Translational Research Grant

Translational Research Grants fund research projects that focus on the rapid translation of basic scientific discoveries into clinical applications.

Recipients

Anne Bowcock, Ph.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Bingjian Feng, Ph.D., The University of Utah
Vinod Chandran, DM, Ph.D., University Health Network

These awards have been generously supported by the Sandy and Dick Boyce.

Bridge Grant

Bridge Grants support growing psoriatic disease funding commitments at the world’s largest funding bodies. These awards offer a year of support to investigators whose proposals received high-merit reviews but were declined for lack of critical experimental data.

Recipients

Alicia Mathers, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Lourdes Pérez-Chada, M.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.
Nicole L. Ward, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center

These awards have been generously supported by David Schwartz Foundation.

Discovery Grant

Discovery Grants enable researchers to explore revolutionary ideas about the nature of psoriasis. These projects establish the proof-of-principle needed to support translation of the ideas to future clinical impact.

Recipients

Monika Bambouskova, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis
James Bluett, Ph.D, University of Manchester
Zvi Granot, Ph.D., Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wilson Liao, M.D., The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco
Stefano Motta, Ph.D., University of Milano-Bicocca (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca)
Patricia Nguyen, M.D., The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
Richard Wang, M.D., Ph.D., The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern)

These awards have been generously supported by Walton Family Foundation.

Early Career Research Grant

Early Career Research Grants support scientists at the challenging early career stage and welcome them into the collaborative community of scientists, clinicians, and patients involved with psoriatic disease research.

Recipients

Paul Hsu, M.D., Ph.D., The Regents of the University of California, San Diego
Serena Melgrati, Ph.D., King's College London
Runqiu Song, M. Bio.H.Sc., Monash University

These awards have been generously supported by the Sue Shoenberg Endowment for Early Career Research Grants.

Fellowships

Psoriatic Disease Research Fellowships provide support to eligible institutions to develop and enhance the opportunities for physicians training for research careers in academic dermatology and rheumatology.

Recipients

Matthew Anacleto-Dabarno, M.D., CM, University Health Network
Ryan Malcolm Hum, MBChB, MRCP (UK), University of Manchester
Allison Kranyak, M.D., The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco
Alyssa Roberts, BS, The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles

These awards have been generously supported by Dr. Mark Lebwohl, Amgen, and Johnson & Johnson.

Additional Research Funding

NPF is also continuing work in many key areas including the PsA Diagnostic Test Grant as well as the prevention of psoriasis and comorbidities. Those projects, in addition to many other successful NPF-funded investigations, were made possible by the generosity of several individuals and organizations.

These awards have been generously supported by Bill and Jodi Felton, Michael Graff & Carol Ostrow, Virginia Morris Kincaid Charitable Trust, Sara Lee and Barry Larner, Michael & Carol Laub, Robert E. Ringdahl Foundation, Fred and Joan Weisman, Karen and Dale White, The Wood Family, and anonymous donors for your contributions.

Learn more about current NPF-funded research projects.

About the National Psoriasis Foundation

The National Psoriasis Foundation has served the community of people impacted by psoriatic disease since 1967 with patient support, advocacy, research, and education. The mission of NPF is to drive efforts to cure psoriatic disease and improve the lives of more than 8 million individuals in the United States affected by this chronic immune-mediated disease. Learn more at psoriasis.org.