SLU Honors Scholarly Works and Grant Winners

04/25/2025

Saint Louis University celebrated scholars Thursday afternoon at the annual Scholarly Works and Grant Winners reception.

The annual ceremony, hosted by the Office of the Vice President for Research, celebrates research excellence and recognizes success in publications and other scholarly outputs, as well as grants and service from SLU faculty and staff. Winners were recognized for their accomplishments from 2024.

Scholarly Works Awards

Scholarly Works as Public Works

• Junior faculty award: Mark Mullen, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry — A Psychiatry Boot Camps (Podcast Series)
• Senior faculty award: Steven Rogers, Ph.D., associate professor of political science — the SLU/YouGov Poll

Scholarly Works as Creative Works

• Gary Barker, professor of theatre — Director, theatrical production of “All My Sons” by Arthur Miller

Scholarly Works as Articles 

• Junior faculty award: Laurence Anne Lemaire, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology — “Neural crest lineage in the protovertebrate model Ciona (Nature)
• Junior faculty honorable mention: Diana M. Llamas, assistant professor of nursing — “Alternative Mental Health Interventions for Hispanic Women with Breast Cancer: A State of the Science Review” (Hispanic Health Care International)
• Senior faculty award: Richard DiPaolo, Ph.D., professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology — “Unveiling Cancer-Related Metaplastic Cells in Both Helicobacter pylori Infection and Autoimmune Gastritis” (Gastroenterology)
• Senior faculty award: Jeremiah Ho, J.D., associate professor of law — “Colonizing Queerness” (University of Colorado Law Review)
• Senior faculty honorable mention: Marvin Meyers, Ph.D., professor of chemistry — Identification of potent and orally efficacious phosphodiesterase inhibitors in Cryptosporidium parvum-infected immunocompromised male mice” (Nature Communications)
• Senior faculty honorable mention: Mamoun Benmamoun, Ph.D., associate professor of international business — “Generative AI in International Business Research: A Guide to Ethical and Responsible Application” (Thunderbird International Business Review)
• Senior faculty honorable mention: Paolo Saona, Ph.D., associate professor of finance — “The zero-debt puzzle in BRICS countries: Disentangling the financial flexibility and financial constraints hypotheses” (Emerging Markets Review)
• Senior faculty honorable mention: Jintong Tang. Ph.D., professor of management — “The gendered effect of populism on innovation” (Journal of Business Venturing)
• Senior faculty honorable mention: Tobias Mattei, M.D., associate professor, neurological surgery — “Health Care Fraud and Abuse: Lessons from One of the Largest Scandals of the 21st Century in the Field of Spine Surgery (Annals of Surgery) 

Scholarly Works Published as Books

• Junior faculty award: Clarice Thomas, Ph.D., assistant professor of African American Studies — “No One Can Arrest Our Dreams: Black Men Storying a Path Toward Educational Justice and Freedom” (Routledge)
• Junior faculty award: Matthew Elia, Ph.D., assistant professor of theological studies — “The Problem of the Christian Master: Augustine in the Afterlife of Slavery (Yale University Press)
• Senior faculty award: Paul Lynch, Ph.D., associate professor of English — “Persuasions of God: Inventing René Girard's Rhetoric. Transdisciplinary Series in Rhetoric” (Pennsylvania State University Press)
• Senior faculty award: Liz Chiarello, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology and anthropology — “Policing Patients: Treatment and Surveillance on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis” (Princeton University Press)
• Senior faculty honorable mention: Helen De Cruz, Ph.D., professor of Philosophy — “Wonderstruck: How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We Think” (Princeton University Press)
• Senior faculty honorable mention: Rubén Rosario Rodriguez, Ph.D., professor of theological studies — “The Enduring Relevance of His Political, Social, and Economic Theology” (Baker Academic) 

Grant Winner Awards

Infrastructure Award

• Reza Dastvan, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology — High-Sensitivity Bruker Q-Band Elexsys E580 Pulse EPR Spectrometer: National Institutes of Health (NIH) 

Training Award

• Meredith Rataj, program director, Transformative Workforce Academy — Reentry Employment Program: State of Missouri 

Faculty Innovation Award

The following individuals were named as Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI): 

• Enrico Di Cera, M.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology 
• Nicola Pozzi, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology
• Koyal Garg, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering 
• Silviya Petrova Zustiak, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering

Research Impact and Collaboration Award

• Marla Berg-Weger, Ph.D., professor emeritus of social work, and Max Zubatsky, Ph.D., associate professor of Family and Community Medicine — Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 

Research Administrator Award

• Mark Haenchen, executive director (retired), Environmental Health and Safety 

Foundation Award 

• Hisako Matsuo, Ph.D., professor of sociology and anthropology — Evidence-Based Policy Recommendations for Infant and Maternal Health Promotion: Solution for Diaper Need: Missouri Foundation for Health (MFFH) 

Faculty Research Award

• David Wisbey, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics —ExpandQISE: Track 1: Microwave resonator probes of quantum materials for advancing qubit platforms: National Science Foundation (NSF) 
• Atria Larson, Ph.D., associate professor of theological studies — TPEN 3.0: A Linked Open Transcription and Annotation Service for the Next Generation: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) 
• Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience — Development of selective GPR34 antagonists for the treatment of neuropathic pain: National Institutes of Health (NINDS)