The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Scholarship Committee has selected Eric Rellinger, MD, FACS, a pediatric surgeon-scientist at the University of Kentucky, as recipient of its most prestigious early-career research award. The announcement came at the beginning of the 2025 ACS Clinical Congress in early October.
The George H. A. Clowes, Jr., MD, FACS, Memorial Research Career Development Award provides a $45,000 stipend for five years, totaling $225,000, to support early-career faculty whose research projects demonstrate outstanding potential to advance surgical science. Dr. Rellinger's project is entitled "Rewiring Glycosylation to Overcome Immunotherapy Resistance in High-Risk Neuroblastoma."
Dr. Rellinger joined the UK College of Medicine Department of Surgery in 2021 after finishing his fellowship in pediatric surgery at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Dr. Rellinger oversees a basic and translational research program investigating innovative therapeutic strategies for neuroblastoma, a leading cause of childhood cancer mortality.
The Clowes Memorial Research award has recognized and supported the nation’s most promising surgeon-scientists for more than three decades.