The North American Spine Society awarded two traveling fellowships and several research grants at the annual meeting this past week.
There was a total of $149,999 awarded this year and the NASS Research Project Management Committee and Research Council selected the winners; the Executive Committee approved the winners.
Gaurav Raj Dhakal, MBBS, MS, received the 2015 Clinical Traveling Fellowship for Washington University Medical Center, Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai, Nicklaus Children's Hospital.
Narihito Nagoshi, MD, PhD, of the University of Toronto in Canada was awarded the $7,000 2015 Research Traveling Fellowship.
There were three research grants awarded:
1. Zina Trost, PhD, received the Young Investigator — Clinical award for "Development of a Virtual Reality Graded Exposure Intervention for Chronic Low Back Pain." The two-year grant is worth $46,300.
2. Juliane Glaser, PhD, received the Young Investigator — Basic award for "Treatment with the NFkB Inhibitor NEMO-Binding Domain Peptide to Inhibit Disc Degeneration." The two-year grant is for $48,874.
3. Helen E. Gruber, PhD, received the Basic Science award for "Do Human Annulus Cells Actively Try to Repel Nerve Ingrowth into the Disc?" The two-year grant is for $41,025.