Meet the 2026 Awardee: Sarina Sahetya, MD, MHS
Sarina Sahetya, MD, MHS is the Director of Quality and Safety for the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Sahetya received her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and her medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She completed her residency and Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital prior to joining as faculty. She also earned a Masters of Health Sciences in Clinical Investigation from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Sahetya is an expert in mechanical ventilation and the management of acute respiratory failure. Her research focuses on utilizing respiratory physiology to optimize mechanical ventilation for patients with acute respiratory failure. She receives funding from the NIH and DoD to investigate the use of a driving pressure-targeted ventilation strategy. She has contributed to international consensus recommendations on lung and diaphragm protective mechanical ventilation and was a co-chair for the recent American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
Description
This award recognizes a junior faculty with exemplary achievements in a scientific area of interest to the Assembly and who demonstrates clear promise for a future of sustained productivity. The awardee will be honored at the CC Assembly gathering at the ATS International Conference.
Criteria
Candidate should be:
- An active clinician or investigator in critical care medicine within ~10 years of completion of training (i.e., fellowship or terminal doctoral degree, whichever was completed/awarded latest)
- A CCA member (primary or secondary).
- Contributions to the CC Assembly in the form of committee participation or leadership, promoting CCA diversity, and/or otherwise advancing the CCA’s mission will be viewed favorably.
The nomination package must include a nomination letter touching on all four scoring metrics (see below scoring rubric) from one or more members of ATS describing why the award is merited. Nominators should note in their letter any extenuating circumstances affecting the nominee. The curriculum vitae from the candidate must also be included with the nomination packet. Unawarded nominations from prior years do not carry over and should be resubmitted; previous awardees are not eligible for the same award.
Example Nomination Letters
Alison E. Turnbull, DVM, MPH, PhD, 2023 Awardee
Lauren E Ferrante, MD, MHS, ATSF, 2022 Awardee
Scoring Rubric
Applicants are scored on 4 criteria using a 1-5 rating system (with 1 being the best) across the below categories. In the event that none of the nominees in a given category receive an average score ≤3, the Planning Committee may choose to defer granting an award in that category that year. If the Planning Committee does not receive any eligible nominations in a given category (e.g., CCA member, active clinician/investigator for roughly the stated time frame), the Committee may choose to nominate an individual, who must be unanimously approved by all members in order to receive the award.
- Scientific Contributions/Products (which may include: research articles, data, reagents, software, and intellectual property)
- Teaching/Mentoring/Educational/Advocacy Contributions
- Participation in Assembly and ATS Activities (administrative, committees, workshops etc.)
- Overall impact/impression of dossier submitted for award application