Research Honors and Awards

2020 An Outstanding Poster Presentation Award (3rd place) at the 2020 Stephenson Cancer Center Annual Cancer Research Symposium was attributed to Dr. Balaji Sadhasivam for work done in Dr. Queimado's lab. February 7, 2020, OUHSC, Oklahoma City, OK. Presentation Title: DNA damage detection by q-PADDA: a promising tool for assessment of cervical cancer risk.

2019 Received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award from the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, OUHSC, June 8, 2019.

2019 Dr. Queimado's student, ViJay Raj, was one of 2 medical students to receive a summer stipend from the Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Summer Research program to work with Dr. Queimado on electronic cigarettes and cancer pathogenesis.

2019 A Stephenson Cancer Center Travel Award to the 2019 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA was attributed to Dr.Queimado's PhD student, Jimmy Manyanga, for his work on the effects of electronic cigarettes on cisplatin resistance.

2019 An Outstanding Poster Presentation Award (3rd place) at the 2019 Stephenson Cancer Center Annual Cancer Research Symposium was attributed to Jimmy Manyanga for work done in Dr. Queimado’s lab. February 1, 2019, OUHSC, Oklahoma City, OK. Presentation Title: Clonogenic survival after cisplatin: Effects of e-cigarette exposure.

2018 The innovative work of Balaji Sadhasivam, an Associate Research Fellow in Dr. Queimado's lab, was recognized and selected for oral presentation at Mitochondrial Retreat 2018, April 20, 2018, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. All other presenters were established Faculty.

2018 Dr. Queimado’s PhD student, Jimmy Manyanga, was a Flash Talk Winner (Judge) at the 43rd Annual Graduate Research Education and Technology (GREAT) Symposium, April 9-12, 2018, OUHSC, Oklahoma City, OK. Presentation Title: The electronic cigarette enigma: role in DNA damage and stemness.

2016 The only two Health Disparities Network Travel Awards attributed to Oklahoma State for the 2016 SNRT 22nd Annual Meeting went to Dr. Queimado’s lab to support her PhD student, Jimmy Manyanga, and a summer medical student, Basil Mathews, to present their respective work entitled: “Active and passive smoking increase epithelial normal and cancer stemness” and “Nicotine actives the WNT/beta-catenin pathway and increases the stemness of head and neck cancer cells”.

2016 An Outstanding Poster Presentation Award (2nd place) at the Stephenson Cancer Center Cancer Research Symposium was attributed to Jimmy Manyanga for work done in Dr. Queimado’s lab. Presentation Title: Active and passive smoking increase epithelial normal and cancer stemness and induce drug resistance.

2015 Our work on DNA damage induced by secondhand smoking published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine was considered a “landmark study” by a national tobacco control policy program and featured on the “Action To Quit” newsletter (April 8, 2015) (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/03/prweb12557818.htm ). Vengatesh Ganapathy is the first author of this work which documented for the first time that exposure to a single puff of secondhand smoke causes significant DNA damage. Our findings have major health implications and likely pave way towards implementing effective evidence-based tobacco policies for the ultimate improvement of the overall human health.

2015 The First Place Award for Excellence Research by a Graduate Student at the Annual Stephenson Cancer Center Research Symposium, Oklahoma City, OK, was presented to Lacy Brame, BS for her work entitled “Exposure to electronic-cigarettes’ aerosol extracts induce significant DNA damage”.

2014 The Oklahoma State Grand Prize Award for Excellence Research was attributed to the work done in Dr. Queimado's lab by her student Lacy Brame at the EPSCoR Research Capitol Day, Oklahoma City, OK, for her work entitled “A Novel Assay to Predict Cancer Resistance to Cisplatin”. This prize included a $10,000 award.

2013 The Outstanding Poster Presentation Award for Summer Undergraduate Research Experience at the OUHSC Summer Research Symposium was awarded to Lacy Brame on July 19, 2013, Oklahoma City, OK, for her work entitled “A Novel Assay to Predict Cancer Resistance to Cisplatin”.

2013 The First Place for Best Postdoctoral Research Poster Presentation at the Second Annual Stephenson Cancer Center Research Symposium, Oklahoma City, OK, was attributed to Vengatesh Ganapathy, PhD, for his work entitled “A novel assay to characterize mainstream and sidestream smoke induced DNA damage”.

2013 Dini Chissoe received the accolades for OUHSC Employee of the Month in March from the Staff Senate.

2012 Ilangovan Ramachandran, PhD, was named Post-Doc of the month.

2012 The award for Best Paper of the Year at OUHSC was attributed to our paper entitled “Wnt inhibitory factor 1 induces apoptosis and inhibits cervical cancer growth, invasion and angiogenesis in vivo” published in Oncogene.

2011 The second prize for Best Postdoctoral Research Poster Presentation at the 1st Annual Stephenson Cancer Center Research Symposium, Oklahoma City, OK, was attributed to Ilangovan Ramachandran for his work entitled “Wnt inhibitory factor 1 is silenced by promoter hypermethylation in cervical cancer and its restoration suppresses tumor growth”.

2011 The Best Postdoctoral Research Award, OU College of Medicine Dean's Award for Scientific Achievement, 36th Annual GREAT Symposium, Oklahoma City, OK, was awarded to Ilangovan Ramachandran for his work entitled “Wnt inhibitory factor 1 is down-regulated in human cervical cancer and its re-expression inhibits cervical cancer growth”.

2011 The Outstanding Performance Award, in recognition of Commitment to Excellence in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, was presented to Ilangovan Ramachandran, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Queimado’s lab.