Advancing Headache Care: 2024 Grant Award Recipients
Announcing the 2024 Grant Award Recipients: Advancing Headache Medicine Through Research and Quality Improvement
The American Headache Society (AHS) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2024 Investigator-Initiated Research Award and the Headache & Migraine Competitive Grant Program. These research grant programs reflect the society’s commitment to advancing patient care and supporting impactful research at all experience levels.
AHS members were invited to submit proposals for high-impact research and quality improvement initiatives. Final decisions were made in recent weeks, and we are pleased to recognize the following awardees.
2024 Investigator-Initiated Research Grant Program
This program, launched in 2023, supports one-year clinical or pre-clinical research projects that align with the Headache Research Priorities (Schwedt et al., 2024). It emphasizes funding early-career investigators, including postdoctoral fellows and faculty.
This initiative is led by the Co-Chairs of the AHS Research Committee, Amynah Pradhan, PhD, FAHS and Richard Lipton, MD, FAHS, with support from a distinguished panel of reviewers, including: Dawn Buse, PhD, FAHS; Andrew Charles, MD, FAHS; Catherine Chong, PhD, FAHS; Gregory Dussor, PhD; Benjamin Friedman, MD; Amy Gelfand, MD, FAHS; Peter Goadsby, MD, PhD, FAHS; Andrea Harriott, MD, PhD; Dan Levy, PhD; Scott Powers, PhD, FAHS; William Renthal, MD, PhD, FAHS; Marcela Romero-Reyes, DDS, PhD, FAHS; Elizabeth Seng, PhD, FAHS; Christina Szperka, MD, FAHS; Gretchen Tietjen, MD; Rebecca Wells, MD, MPH, FAHS
This award underscores AHS’s support for original, foundational research and encourages interdisciplinary approaches that can lead to transformative advances in headache medicine.
Award Recipient
Hadas Nahman-Averbuch, PhD
Institution: Washington University in St. Louis
Project Title:Hormonal Factors and Changes in Migraine Burden After Hysterectomy for Endometriosis
Funding: $50,000
Summary: Exploring hormonal factors and migraine burden in women undergoing hysterectomy, with or without oophorectomy, as a treatment for endometriosis. Findings will contribute to a better understanding of hormonal influences on migraine and are expected to be presented at a future AHS Annual Scientific Meeting, with manuscript submission to Headache or another peer-reviewed journal.
2024 Competitive Headache & Migraine Grant Program Recipients
This program funds projects that promote measurable improvements in care for patients with headache disorders. The expert review panel included: Andrew Charles, MD, FAHS; Joe Coe (Patient Advocate); Richard Lipton, MD, FAHS; Sara Molisani, MD; Scott Powers, PhD, FAHS; Raissa Villanueva, MD, MPH
In total, the program awarded $1.2 million in funding across the above six quality improvement projects. With the generous support from Pfizer, the program plans to award up to $3 million in grant funding. Details on the next funding cycle will be announced later this year. Read the press release on Business Wire announcing the 2024 recipients.
Award Recipients
Chia-Chun Chiang, MD
Institution: Mayo Clinic
Project Title: An Agentic Artificial Intelligence System for Efficiently Collecting and Summarizing Headache Information, Diagnosing Headache Types, and Optimizing Clinical Workflows
Funding: $249,999
Summary: Development and validation of an AI-assisted tool to collect patient headache history, suggest likely diagnoses, and improve clinical workflow efficiency.
Jelena Pavlovic, MD, PhD
Institution: Montefiore Medical Center
Project Title: Migraine and Perimenstrual Migraine Attacks in the Emergency Department: Improving Recognition and Ensuring Better Outcomes
Funding: $250,000
Summary: Focused on improving diagnosis and referral for women of color experiencing migraine in emergency settings, with special attention to menstrual-related migraine.
Richelle deMayo, MD
Institution: Connecticut Children's Medical Center Foundation
Project Title: HeadWay: Charting Coordination & Continuity Across the Transition from Adolescent-to-Adult Headache Care
Funding: $250,000
Summary: Development and evaluation of a structured, equity-focused model to support adolescents transitioning to adult headache care.
Hannah Shapiro, MD
Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Project Title: Empowering Children and Adolescents Undergoing Needle-Based Procedures for Headache Treatment Through Implementation of a “Headache Procedure Comfort Menu”
Funding: $193,529
Summary: Implementation and evaluation of a patient-facing tool to improve coping for youth undergoing needle-based headache treatments.
Sinifunanya Nwaobi, MD, PhD
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Project Title: Effectiveness of a School-Based Interventional Migraine Program in Under-Resourced Schools
Funding: $250,976
Summary: A school-based intervention aiming to improve early migraine detection and treatment in children from under-resourced communities.
Winnie Lau, MD
Institution: University of North Carolina
Project Title: Reducing Emergency Department Length of Stay and Specialty Consultation Wait Times for Patients with Headache
Funding: $40,000
Summary: Implementation of a streamlined workflow using funduscopic cameras to reduce ED stay and wait times for headache patients.
We commend all applicants for their commitment to advancing care for people with headache disorders. Please join us in congratulating the 2024 recipients! We look forward to sharing updates on their progress in the months and years ahead.
To learn more about AHS research and funding opportunities, visit our Research Grants webpage.