{"id":120204,"date":"2025-03-11T11:17:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T16:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=120204"},"modified":"2025-03-11T11:17:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T16:17:57","slug":"college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"College announces physician-scientist training awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p>Austin Wheeler, MD, assistant professor in the UNMC Division of Rheumatology, and Christopher Conrady, MD, assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, have been selected as recipients of the College of Medicine&#8217;s Physician-Scientist Training Program award for 2025-2026.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The award recognizes their potential as promising investigators and will support their continued excellence in clinical research at UNMC.\u202fDr. Wheeler is in his first year of funding and Dr. Conrady is in his second for the two-year award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Wheeler, who explores the application of genetics and other multi-omic data sources and research techniques towards rheumatic disease, said this award demonstrates that the college recognizes the impact of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis award is particularly meaningful to me in that it really demonstrates the commitment of UNMC to physician-scientists and support of early-career investigators,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a challenging time for early-career investigators trying to get their research off the ground, and I am incredibly thankful to have the support of the College of Medicine through this award.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The award will allow him to continue moving forward with his current research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy work uses large data sources and has a clinical bioinformatics focus,\u201d Dr. Wheeler said. \u201cI have been establishing the infrastructure within our division to perform this type of research, and this additional funding will be extremely valuable in continuing to build that capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Conrady said the award allowed him to solidify his emerging scientific career while maintaining a busy practice at the Truhlsen Eye Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe award has allowed me academic independence to establish a dream of mine, an ocular immunology research lab, while balancing the life of a clinician,\u201d Dr. Conrady said.\u202f\u201cWithout this early career investment by UNMC, it would be very difficult for me to pursue this dual career track.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His research focus is better understanding a herpes virus of the retina that causes blindnesss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur aim is to better understand the earliest immune response to the virus within the retina to identify potential therapeutic targets,\u201d he said, adding that the work would \u201cultimately improve visual outcomes in the patients I see in clinic with this devastating disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UNMC College of Medicine Physician-Scientist Training Program was developed to provide\u202fresearch-oriented residents and fellows or junior faculty the opportunity to develop careers in biomedical research. The program\u2019s goal is to help alleviate the critical shortage of physician-scientists in this country and to recruit and retain\u202fphysician-scientists that will become productive faculty members at UNMC.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Award recognizes promising investigators and supports their continued excellence in clinical research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":120205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"19117,21332,47930,22738,48934,58985","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","author_override-maria-ball-unmc-department-of-internal-medicine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>College announces physician-scientist training awards<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Award recognizes promising investigators and supports their continued excellence in clinical research.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"College announces physician-scientist training awards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Award recognizes promising investigators and supports their continued excellence in clinical research.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-11T16:17:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-11T16:17:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Keenan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\"},\"headline\":\"College announces physician-scientist training awards\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-11T16:17:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-11T16:17:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":419,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/\",\"name\":\"College announces physician-scientist training awards\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-11T16:17:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-11T16:17:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"Award recognizes promising investigators and supports their continued excellence in clinical research.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg\",\"width\":2200,\"height\":1467},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/11\\\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"College announces physician-scientist training awards\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/unmcedu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/unmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/iamunmc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17\",\"name\":\"John Keenan\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.unmc.edu\\\/newsroom\\\/author\\\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"College announces physician-scientist training awards","description":"Award recognizes promising investigators and supports their continued excellence in clinical research.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"College announces physician-scientist training awards","og_description":"Award recognizes promising investigators and supports their continued excellence in clinical research.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2025-03-11T16:17:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-11T16:17:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2200,"height":1467,"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Keenan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Keenan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/"},"author":{"name":"John Keenan","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17"},"headline":"College announces physician-scientist training awards","datePublished":"2025-03-11T16:17:55+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-11T16:17:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/"},"wordCount":419,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/","name":"College announces physician-scientist training awards","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-11T16:17:55+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-11T16:17:57+00:00","description":"Award recognizes promising investigators and supports their continued excellence in clinical research.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WheelerConradyCOM.jpg","width":2200,"height":1467},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/03\/11\/college-announces-physician-scientist-training-awards\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"College announces physician-scientist training awards"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/59c9598a54f1a531c30cccc1d010ac17","name":"John Keenan","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/02e74f10e0327ad868d138f2b4fdd6f0\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120206,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120204\/revisions\/120206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}