Meet the 2025 Winner: David Zhang MD, MS
David Zhang MD, MS is a clinician researcher investigating the interaction of common and rare genetic risk factors for the development and pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and a clinic provider in the Columbia/NYP Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic. He is an active member of ATS Section on Genetics and Genomics and participates in the NIH Clinical Genome (ClinGen) effort as a content expert for the genetics of interstitial lung disease (ILD).
Following his pulmonary and critical care fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern, he completed postdoctoral training in Christine Garcia’s lab at Columbia University leveraging whole genome sequencing data of large clinical cohorts and high dimensional single-cell RNA sequencing data to identify novel genetic risk factors for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). He has also focused on translating genetic discoveries back to clinic patients including studying pharmacogenetic interactions and utility of genomic/genetic testing in ILD clinic.
Dr. Zhang’s translational research platform now seeks to combine clinical cohorts with biobank data to validate genetic endotypes of IPF defined by common and rare genetic variation using complementary multi-omics approaches. Dr. Zhang has been recognized for his work with funding or honorarium from the International Colloquium for Lung and Airway Fibrosis, the Francis Family Foundation, and by the NIH with a K08 award.
Description
The award recognizes early career investigators with outstanding contributions to the scientific understanding of genetics, genomics, “omics” technologies, and systems biology applications in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. The Awardee will feature such scientific contributions in a 5-minute presentation at the Section on Genetics and Genomics (SGG) Annual Meeting during the American Thoracic Scientific (ATS) International Conference. There is no monetary award for this recognition. Nominators are encouraged to emphasize the following achievements about a candidate (if applicable): (1) Scientific and Scholarly Productivity, (2) Educational and Mentoring Contributions, (3) Contributions to the Scientific Field, and (4) Participations in ATS, AII or SGG activities.
Eligibility
- Nominees must be members of SGG.
- Nominees must be within 10 years of their first faculty appointment (or equivalent). An additional written justification is needed to request a waiver of this criterion and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
- Nominees cannot have previously received another ATS Early Career Award.
- Active participation and contributions to the SGG and the ATS will be viewed favorably.
- There are no nationality restrictions for this award.
Past Winners
2024 - Zhaozhong Zhu ScD