2026 Awardees | Early Stage Investigator Lecture | ODP

About the Lecture

Tremendous advances have been made in the care of traumatic brain injuries, specifically concussions, in the pediatric population over the past two decades. As the field of pediatric concussion moves away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach of passive and prolonged rest towards more individualized and active management strategies, it is critical to use the lens of innovation to ensure that all patients have access to the most up-to-date treatment approaches, regardless of who they are, how they are injured, and where they are first seen.

In this talk, Dr. Daniel Corwin will discuss how the Minds Matter Concussion Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has used a broad array of strategies to try to achieve this goal. This includes developing evaluation techniques that allow frontline clinicians to assess brain function postinjury using advanced physiologic measures and leveraging digital health to assist patients and families in navigating the health care system, while the field continues to innovate around the optimal treatment strategies themselves. Ultimately, the goal is to allow for a precision medicine approach—the right treatment for the right patient at the right time—to be available to all pediatric concussion patients.

About Daniel Corwin

Daniel Corwin, M.D., M.S.C.E., is a pediatric emergency medicine attending physician, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Director of Clinical and Translational Research for the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Associate Director and Emergency Department Lead of the CHOP Minds Matter Concussion Program, and Scholar and Leadership Council member for CHOP’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, medical school at the New York University School of Medicine, and his pediatric residency, pediatric emergency medicine fellowship, and pediatric emergency medicine research fellowship at CHOP. His research focuses on: (1) improving mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnosis and risk stratification across care settings, including using objective physiologic and molecular markers of injury to facilitate timely and accurate diagnosis; (2) addressing health outcome differences in TBI care, including exploring innovative care models, such as utilizing digital health and remote patient management to facilitate health care system navigation; and (3) evaluating early therapeutics for mild TBI, including leading the first randomized trial of a nutraceutical to improve mild TBI symptoms in the pediatric population.

Dr. Corwin's work is supported by competitive funding from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Department of Defense, Pennsylvania Department of Health, and Toyota’s Way Forward Fund. He is committed to conducting robust, multidisciplinary research to improve the care of all children with TBI.

Meichen Wang, Ph.D.

About the Lecture

Dietary intake represents a major route of human exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), yet effective interventions to mitigate this exposure are limited, especially during vulnerable periods, such as pregnancy, lactation, and early development. Dr. Meichen Wang’s research focuses on developing edible, clay-based sorbents to sequester PFAS within the gastrointestinal tract, thereby reducing systemic absorption and associated toxicity. Her interdisciplinary team employs a combination of adsorption analyses, in vitro cell models, bioassays, and rodent models to validate the efficacy and safety of the sorbent strategy to protect human health from these persistent contaminants.

About Meichen Wang

Meichen Wang, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in toxicology from Texas A&M University and completed postdoctoral training on environmental remediation, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund and K99 programs. Her current research focuses on developing edible clay-based sorbents that mitigate dietary exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and prevent their toxicities during critical windows, such as pregnancy, lactation, and early development. Her work has resulted in 50 peer-reviewed publications, a patent for clay technologies, and a license for technology transfer. Her work aims to bridge fundamental toxicology and practical interventions to establish clay sorbents as a primary dietary barrier that reduces internal chemical burden and prevents chronic diseases.