ASCI / Young Physician-Scientist Awards, 2022
The Young Physician-Scientist Awards (YPSA) recognize physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research.
About the awardee
David B. Frank, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an attending physician in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for his undergraduate studies, and he obtained his Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He completed his pediatrics residency and fellowship in pediatric cardiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He performed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Edward Morrisey at Penn. He has been awarded the Society for Pediatric Research Fellow Research award, Parker B. Francis Fellowship, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Development Award, and a NHLBI K08 grant.
Dr. Frank’s laboratory focuses on the mechanisms of cardiopulmonary development and regeneration. His research has uncovered mechanisms of alveolar epithelial cellular plasticity, a novel stem cell in the lung alveolus, and paradigms in early cell fate decisions in the lung alveolus. More recently, he is interested in mechanisms of development and regeneration of the pulmonary vasculature to discover and develop novel therapies for pulmonary hypertension in children.