Newswise — MOUNT LAUREL, NJ, 2025 – The American Neurological Association (ANA), the professional organization representing the world’s top academic neurologists and neuroscientists, has announced the recipients of its 2025 scientific awards, to be presented during the 150th Annual Meeting of the ANA, which will be held September 13-16, 2025, at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. This milestone meeting will recognize and reflect on the heritage of outstanding science and research as well as celebrate the promising future of biomedical research in academic neurology.
These prestigious awards recognize leaders in academic neurology and neuroscience who have exemplified excellence in research, teaching, and clinical practice across clinical neurology and neuroscience disciplines.
“Our annual meeting is the perfect opportunity to highlight extraordinary investigators who are advancing our fundamental understanding of neurological disease and its translation to advances in care. Honoring the body of work encompassed by our ANA2025 award recipients is particularly special as we reflect on the amazing journey of our 150-year history and look to the future,” said ANA President M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD, FANA, Nathan Cummings Professor and Director of the Center for Neurogenetics at Weill Cornell Medicine. “They, along with the many leaders presenting at ANA2025, are transforming our field to pioneer interventions that prevent, treat, or cure neurological disease.”
The ANA Annual Meeting convenes nearly 1,000 academic neurologists and neuroscientists annually to share updates and research breakthroughs. Attendees share new insights on the workings of the brain and nervous system and the origins and treatment of neurological diseases that affect more than 100 million Americans each year—including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, neuromuscular disorders, headache, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and more.
Out of this distinguished group, the following neuroscientists will receive a 2025 ANA Award:
Lectureships Presented and delivered during ANA2025 sessions as noted below.
The Raymond D. Adams Lectureship honors Dr. Raymond D. Adams, emeritus Bullard Professor of Neuropathology at Harvard Medical School and emeritus Chief of Neurology Service at Massachusetts General Hospital. Established in 2000, the lectureship highlights a neurologist whose work has made a major impact on the understanding or treatment of neurological disorders.
- Awarded to: Beau Ances, MD, PhD, MSc, FANA, Washington University in St. Louis
- Presentation Title: Down Syndrome Across the Lifespan: Moving from Hugs to Drugs
- Session: Advancing Science and Care Models for Lifespan Transitions in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
The F.E. Bennett Memorial Lectureship Award began in 1979 by Foster Elting Bennett, MD, in memory of his son. The award recognizes outstanding neuroscientists and educators in neurology.
- Awarded to: Bryan Traynor, MB, MD, PhD, MMSc, FRCPI, FANA, National Institute on Aging
- Presentation Title: Using Polygenic Risk Scores to Identify Therapies for ALS
- Session: Presidential Symposium – Decoding Neurological Risk: Transforming Care with Polygenic Risk Scores
The Soriano Lectureship was established in 1987 by longtime ANA member Dr. Victor Soriano and his wife to acknowledge a “brilliant lecture delivered by an outstanding scientist” who is also a member of the Association.
- Awarded to: Andrea Gropman, MD, FANA, St. Jude Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Presentation Title: Care Models for Transition and Beyond
- Session: Advancing Science and Care Models for Lifespan Transitions in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Awards Presented during the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Symposium.
The Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Awards, ANA’s highest and most prestigious awards, are given annually to ANA members who are in the first 12 years of their career and have achieved significant stature in neurological research, whose work shows promise, and who are expected to continue making major contributions to the field of neurology.
The Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award in Basic Science
- Awarded to: Ethan Goldberg, MD, PhD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Presentation Title: Epilepsy Neurogenetics: From Mechanisms Towards Targeted Therapy
The Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award in Clinical Science
- Awarded to: Divyanshu Dubey, MD, FANA, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
- Presentation Title: From Discovery to Diagnosis: A Translational Journey in Autoimmune Neurology
The Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award, Neuroscientist
- Awarded to: Kathryn Fitzgerald, ScD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
- Presentation Title: Using Genetic Risk Scores to Guide Disease Outcomes in Multiple Sclerosis: A Genomics Approach in the Context of Cardiometabolic Comorbidity in MS
Research & Teaching Awards Presented during the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Symposium.
ANA Awards for Excellence
The ANA strives to recognize the full scope of academic neurology and neuroscience represented by its members. The ANA Award for Excellence recognizes individuals who have had an exceptional impact on the field through their research, leadership, educational endeavors, or service to the ANA itself.
The ANA Award for Clinical and Scientific Excellence (Clinical and Scientific Excellence greater than 15 years) goes to an individual who has made novel scientific contributions that reshape the field’s conceptual understanding of neurological disorders, made sustained or breakthrough contributions to the development of therapeutics, or helped transform or expand diagnostic tools and technologies.
- Awarded to: Merit Cudkowicz, MD, MSc, FANA, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Awarded to: Eva Feldman, MD, PhD, FANA, University of Michigan
The ANA Award for Clinical and Scientific Excellence (Clinical and Scientific Excellence less than 15 years) goes to an individual who has made novel scientific contributions that reshape the field’s conceptual understanding of neurological disorders, made sustained or breakthrough contributions to the development of therapeutics, or helped transform or expand diagnostic tools and technologies.
- Awarded to: Aimee Kao, MD, PhD, FANA, University of California San Francisco
ANA Rising Star Award Presented during the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Symposium New in 2025, the Rising Star Award recognizes one early career physician-scientist or researcher annually who has contributed significantly to the field of neurology (e.g., a body of research that is considered inspired, meritorious, and significant, which has the potential to have a major impact on the field nationally and/or internationally).
- Awarded to: Brandon Holmes, MD, PhD, University of California San Francisco
- Presentation Title: β-Amyloid Induces Microglial Expression of GPC4 and APOE Leading to Increased Neuronal Tau Pathology and Toxicity
The ANA bestows the Audrey S. Penn Lectureship Award to ANA members who conduct outstanding research, program-building, or educational scholarship to promote health equity and address health care disparities.
- Awarded to: Nicole Rosendale, MD, University of California San Francisco
- Presentation Title: The Impact of Social Determinants on Brain Health for All
The Distinguished Neurology Educator Award recognizes and rewards contributions by gifted and talented teachers of neurology. Nominees come from the entire field of clinical neurology or neuroscience.
- Awarded to: Joseph Safdieh, MD, FANA, Weill Cornell Medical College
The Grass Foundation – ANA Award in Neuroscience honors outstanding young investigators conducting research in basic or clinical neuroscience.
- Awarded to: Matthew Brier, MD, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis
- Presentation Title: Unexpected Allies: How MS May Inform Alzheimer’s Prevention
The Wolfe Research Prize for Identifying New Causes of Novel Treatment of Neuropathy and Related Disorders – ANA Award honors an outstanding investigator in the field of neuropathy or related disorders who has made significant contributions to the understanding of pathogenesis or treatment of these conditions.
- Awarded to: Michael Coleman, PhD, Cambridge University
- Presentation Title: Programmed Axon Death and Human Disease
About ANA2025
The 150th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association (ANA2025), will take place September 13-16, 2025, in Baltimore. The nation’s preeminent meeting of academic neuroscientists and neurologists engaged in neuroscience research, top academic neurologists and neuroscientists, along with students and trainees, will gather from across the United States and internationally.
The meeting will showcase emerging science across neurology, with sessions including Advancing Neuroscience Discovery and Treatments Together: Past, Present, and Future, Advancing Science and Care Models for Lifespan Transitions in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Decoding Neurological Risk: Transforming Care with Polygenic Risk Scores, Navigating Diagnostic Odysseys of Undiagnosed Diseases in Neurology: Emerging Paradigms Using Deep Phenotyping and Omics-based Approaches, and Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) Receptor Agonists – The Ultimate (Antiaging) Gateway Drug?, and more.
Members of the media are welcome to attend the full meeting and can preview the advance program at 2025.myana.org. Embargoed abstracts will be made available by request in September.
To register and obtain press credentials, please click here.
Follow the meeting live using #ANA2025 on X @TheNewANA1.
About the American Neurological Association (ANA)
From advances in stroke and dementia to movement disorders and epilepsy, the American Neurological Association has been the vanguard of research since 1875 as the premier professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to understanding and treating diseases of the nervous system. Its monthly Annals of Neurology is among the world’s most prestigious medical journals, and the ANA’s Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology is an online-only, open access journal providing rapid dissemination of high-quality, peer-reviewed research related to all areas of neurology. The acclaimed ANA Annual Meeting draws faculty and trainees from the top academic departments across the U.S. and abroad for groundbreaking research, networking, and career development. For more information, visit www.myana.org or @TheNewANA1.