ASCI / Emerging-Generation Awards, 2022

Alicia N. Rizzo, MD, PhD, is an aspiring physician-scientist in the field of pulmonary and critical care medicine. Her main scientific interest is in understanding acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) heterogeneity. She completed her undergraduate studies in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in 2009. She then joined the Medical Scientist Training Program at University of Illinois, where she completed both her MD and a PhD in Pharmacology in the laboratory of Drs. Steven Dudek and Joe G. N. Garcia. Dr. Rizzo’s thesis work tested the effects of the FDA-approved chemotherapeutic agent imatinib mesylate in murine models of ARDS and elucideated the mechanisms by which the Abl family kinases mediated pulmonary vascular barrier function and inflammation in LPS-induced lung injury. After completing her MD/PhD, Dr. Rizzo joined the Physician-Scientist Training Program at the University of Colorado to pursue her Internal Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care training and a postdoctoral research fellowship. In July of 2020 she joined the laboratory of Dr. Eric Schmidt, who is one of the world’s leading experts in pulmonary glycobiology. His laboratory focuses on the mechanisms of septic organ injury and ARDS. Dr. Rizzo’s research in his laboratory focuses on the structural and functional interaction between the alveolar epithelial glycocalyx and pulmonary surfactant. This includes both mechanistic in vitro and in vivo investigation and a translational human study in which she is performing serial noninvasive sampling of the airspace fluid of mechanically ventilated patients using heat moisture exchanger filters. Dr. Rizzo’s work has been accepted for publication at JCI Insight and has been funded by both the NIH (F32 NRSA and LRP grants) and the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. Dr. Rizzo plans to transition to a physician-scientist faculty position upon completion of her fellowship in 2023.