Miami CTSI Announces 2025 Pilot Award Recipients

Published: May 26, 2025

The Miami CTSI is proud to announce the recipients of its 2025 Pilot Awards, which provide funding to junior faculty at the University of Miami for promising interdisciplinary research proposals in clinical and translational science.

The CTSI Pilot Program Awards fuel innovation in clinical and translational science by supporting early-stage research that addresses critical challenges in the translational process.

Awards are geared towards developing new research methods or technologies that address barriers in translational science, disseminating effective strategies and training approaches and/or conducting feasibility or proof-of-concept studies to support future research.

Designed to drive new insights and generate preliminary data, these awards help launch high-impact projects with the potential to secure future funding.

This year’s awardees represent the departments of Pediatrics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, and Psychology.

2025 Pilot Award Recipients

Tiffani Houston, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Clinical Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Medicine-Pediatrics, and Department Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia/ eclampsia (PreE) and their late detection contribute to high mortality rates. National guidelines recommend routine blood pressure monitoring to screen for PreE as it is currently the best method.

But with maternal mortality rates on the rise, Dr. Houston proposes that earlier and more effective screening will not only improve health outcomes for pregnant women but also help address the current maternal health crisis.

Her research will investigate a new way to detect early signs of PreE by measuring biological and environmental markers to explore the levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical widely used in plastics, for potential changes in the vaginal microbiome of pregnant women – studying women from different backgrounds ensuring broad and relevant outcomes.

Spencer Evans, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology

Irritability is a part of many mental health problems in young people and is a common reason kids may be referred to therapy, but what causes it or how to treat it is not fully understood.

Dr. Evans will study children and their families to identify situations that make kids frustrated and how frustration is connected to irritability and other symptoms.

Aligned with core principles of clinical and translational science emphasizing community relevance, his project will be guided by a community advisory board made up of parents, clinicians, and educators with firsthand experience, ensuring the findings are meaningful to the local community.

Zhipeng Meng, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology

Dr. Meng’s research addresses the challenge of osteoarthritis after joint injuries and the lack of targeted therapies for post-traumatic osteoarthritis.

By investigating the molecular mechanisms triggered by joint injuries and testing new therapeutic strategies using a cross-disciplinary collaborative approach, Dr. Meng and his team aim to develop treatments that can be quickly applied in the clinical setting and benefit a wide range of patients.

Vaka Sigurjonsdottir, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Nephrology

Every year in the U.S., about 25,000 people receive a kidney transplant when their own kidneys fail. This is a lifesaving treatment, but the average lifespan of the transplanted kidney is only 15 years.

Using electronic health record data, Dr. Sigurjonsdottir’s research will investigate biomarkers that may help improve how organs are assigned, guide organ choices for patients with high sensitivity, and help doctors better understand a patient’s immune risk after transplant.

Results of her study will help to inform policies and clinical practices to improve the life expectancy and quality of life of adult and pediatric transplant recipients.

Learn more about the CTSI Pilot Program Awards here.