Judy Cho, MD, and Phillip Fleshner, MD, received the 2021 Sherman Prizes, and Edward Barnes, MD, received the Sherman Emerging Leader Prize from the Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation.
Here's what you should know:
1. This year's winners are "innovators and challengers of the status quo, representing diverse [irritable bowel syndrome] subspecialties," according to the foundation. The foundation annually awards two $100,000 prizes to individuals who have made significant contributions to the IBD field and $25,000 to an emerging leader.
2. Dr. Cho is the dean and a professor of translational genetics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, as well as the director of Mount Sinai's Charles Bronfman Institute. She received one of the $100,000 awards for her IBD genetics research that has "advanced understanding of the underlying causes of IBD and paved the way for personalized treatment approaches."
3. The other $100,000 award winner is Dr. Fleshner, the chair of colorectal surgery and program director of the colorectal surgery residency at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Fleshner was awarded for his innovative approach to IBD research and "establishing evidenced-based surgical best practice."
4. Edward Barnes, MD, received the $25,000 Sherman Emerging Leader Prize. Dr. Barnes is an assistant professor of medicine and the associate program director in the gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship program at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.