The Office of Faculty Affairs at UConn School of Medicine is proud to announce the Fall 2024 winners of the Faculty Spotlight award series celebrating their recent notable accomplishments across patient care, research, and education.

Winners are selected from numerous nominations received from department chairs, center directors, and educational leadership across UConn’s medical school.

“The Office of Faculty Affairs and the School of Medicine would like to celebrate our faculty spotlight winners. We have so many talented researchers, clinicians, and educators at the UConn SOM. Please take a moment and learn more about how these excellent faculty contribute to our larger community,” says Dr. Kiki Nissen, senior associate dean for Faculty Affairs and associate dean for Graduate Medical Education at UConn School of Medicine.

The Fall 2024 awardees are:

Jenna Bartley, Ph.D., assistant professor of immunology, is honored for her two major R01 grant awards from the NIH ranging for laboratory research to clinical trial involving Aging in older adults. She promotes health, function and independence in older adults by testing varied geroscience-guided interventions. She was nominated by Dr. George Kuchel and Dr. Anthony Vella.

Sangamesh Kumbar, Ph.D., professor of orthopaedic surgery, is honored for his highly cited research regarding developing innovative biomaterial and micro-nanostructured implants to repair and regenerate tissue injuries placing him among the top 2% of the most-cited scientists globally.  He was nominated by Dr. Ernesto Canalis.

Shakaib Khan, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and his team are honored for receiving national recognition as a Center of Excellence from the Huntington’s Disease Society of America for development of a multidisciplinary program which simplifies access to necessary multidisciplinary care. He was nominated by Dr. David Steffens.

Thomas Manger, MD, Ph.D., professor of medicine, is honored for making a significant impact on the education of medical and dental students fostering a rigorous but supportive learning environment.  He developed content threads to improve integration with preparation, an assessment tool, and implemented new conferences to improve student understanding. He was nominated by Dr. Melissa Held and Dr. Christine Thatcher.

Faculty Spotlight in action: 

Learn more about the Faculty Spotlight awards.