ASNC Announces 2024 Barry L. Zaret Young Investigator Award Winners

“The future of nuclear cardiology is in great hands,” said Vasken Dilsizian, MD, MASNC, as the competition for this year’s Barry L. Zaret Young Investigator Awards concluded. The 6 finalists joined the judges, Dr. Dilsizian, Journal of Nuclear Cardiology Editor-in-Chief Marcelo F. Di Carli, MD, MASNC, and ASNC President Lawrence Phillips, MD, MASNC, for photos. The winners were announced the next day. (Keep reading to find out who won.)

Row 1 (L to R): Marcelo F. Di Carli, MD, MASNC; Lawrence Phillips, MD, MASNC; Vasken Dilsizian, MD, MASNC; and the competition judges, Panithaya Chareonthaitawee, MD, Robert J. Gropler, MD, MASNC, and Paco E. Bravo, MD. Row 2 (L to R): Finalists Abhijit Bhattaru, BS, Sun-Joo Jang, MD, PhD, Afarin Neishabouri, MD, Aman Tilak, MBBS, Aakash Shanbhag, MS, and Yufan Gu, MD.

How the Competition Works

ASNC’s Barry L. Zaret Young Investigator Awards Competition is an opportunity for early-career investigators to make a name for themselves as up-and-coming researchers while earning cash prizes. Each year, the Society invites qualified investigators to submit their original clinical or emerging science abstracts for consideration. The Annual Scientific Session Program Committee’s Research and Abstracts Track team selects 6 finalists from the top-scoring abstract submissions to compete in the in-person competition. The competition, held at the annual meeting, features each finalist giving a 7- to 8-minute presentation of their abstract and answering a few questions from the judges and session attendees. The winners are announced the following day.

Announcing 2024’s Barry L. Zaret Young Investigator Awardees

This year’s competition was held Friday, Sept. 6, before a standing-room-only audience that included members of Dr. Zaret’s family who traveled from Massachusetts and New York to be part of the session honoring Dr. Zaret, founding editor-in-chief of JNC and an ASNC founding member. All of the competitors’ abstracts are published in the ASNC2024 online supplement to JNC, and the session recording is available for meeting registrants to watch on the ASNC2024 meeting app through Sept. 18. 

This year’s competition for Best Clinical Abstract Award ended in a tie, with Aakash Shanbhag, MS, and Abhijit Bhattaru, BS, sharing the honor. The winner of the Best Emerging Science Abstract Award went to Afarin Neishabouri, MD. The winners joined Dr. Lawrence Phillips, in a photo session and were introduced to the nuclear cardiology community at Saturday’s plenary session. Here they are:

The winners of the ASNC2024 Barry L. Zaret Young Investigator Awards Competition celebrated their success with ASNC President Lawrence Phillips, MD. From left: Afarin Neishabouri, MD, Aakash Shanbhag, MS, Dr. Phillips, and Abhijit Bhattaru, BS.

Would you like to compete in next year’s competition? Stay tuned for details on ASNC2025, Sept. 5-7, in Orlando, Florida, USA.