2025 Danby Research Grant Recipients: Exploring New Frontiers in HS Research

March 7, 2025

The Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation is proud to announce the 2025 recipients of the Danby Research Grant Program. Honoring the legacy of Dr. William Danby, this program awards $20,000 in direct funding to early-career investigators across the U.S. whose research brings fresh perspectives and scientific rigor to the study of HS. This year’s projects span a remarkable range of approaches—from large-scale phenotype classification and machine learning–based diagnostics to uncovering the cellular drivers of pain, tunnel formation, and inflammation. Congratulations to these six investigators whose novel work is helping to push the field of HS research forward.

Peter Dimitrion, MS, MD/PhD Candidate    
Henry Ford Health    
Deciphering a Context-Dependent Role of γ-Secretase Complex Mutations in HS Pathogenesis

 

Afsaneh Alavi, MD and Nadia El-Hamdi, MD, PhD    
Mayo Clinic    
Changing the Paradigm: Leveraging Large-Scale Cohort Analysis to Develop Validated Phenotype Classification for Hidradenitis Suppurativa

 

Debajyoti Ghosh, PhD    
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine     
Testing a Novel Machine Learning-Based Gene Expression Signature for Molecular Diagnosis of Hidradenitis Suppurativa

 

Raji Nagalla, MD, PhD    
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine    
Mechanical regulation of fibroblast and inflammatory mediators of HS tunnel pathology

 

Carolyn Senneca, BS, PhD Student     
Dept. of Dermatology, UMass Chan Medical School    
Mechanisms of Nociceptor Outgrowth Hidradenitis Suppurativa