American Gastroenterological Association, Horizon Pharma announce 2011 abstract prize recipients

The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Research Foundation today announced Horizon Pharma's support of research awards aimed to stimulate interest in gastroenterology/hepatology research careers through competition and recognition:

• AGA-Horizon Pharma Fellow Abstract Prizes provide three awards of $1,000 each to fellows who have submitted abstracts chosen to be presented during Digestive Disease Week^- (DDW).
• AGA-Horizon Pharma Student Abstract Prizes provide eleven travel awards of $500 each to high school, undergraduate, graduate and medical students who have submitted abstracts chosen by the AGA to be presented during DDW. Medical residents up to and including postgraduate year three are also eligible for the award. The three best student abstracts submitted will receive a $1,000 prize.

"We are extremely grateful to Horizon Pharma for their support of promising young researchers whose work could make a positive impact on the lives of patients," said Nicholas F. LaRusso, MD, AGAF, chair of the AGA Research Foundation. "This partnership with Horizon Pharma reinforces our belief that every individual donation makes a difference."

This year's fellow abstract prize recipients are:

• Taeko Noah, PhD, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, OH
• Anne Peery, MD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Songhua Zhang, MD, PhD, Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence

This year's student abstract prize recipients are:

• Evelyn Cov-s-Datson, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Jessica Donnelly, University of Cincinnati, OH
• Birgit Ey, Hospital of Essen/University of Duisburg, Germany
• Yining Fu, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
• Victoria Gomez, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL
• Suraj Gupta, MD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Shabnam Khatami, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
• Rachel Lees-Green, Mayo Clinic/University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Stephanie Owyang, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Sunny Singh, MD, University of Manitoba, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• Andrea Tyler, HBSc, Mt. Sinai Hospital/University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

"We are proud to be working with the AGA Research Foundation to invest in the future of gastroenterology research by funding these grants," said Timothy P. Walbert, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Horizon Pharma. "We congratulate this year's recipients and look forward to seeing our grant recipients flourish in their careers."