Parchem wins Young Physician-Scientist Award
The American Society for Clinical Investigation has named Jacqueline Parchem, MD, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, as a winner of the 2026 Young Physician-Scientist Award.
“I am honored to receive the 2026 ASCI Young-Physician Scientist Award and to be recognized among such an inspiring group of peers,” Parchem said. “I am grateful to my extraordinary physician-scientist mentors, Drs. Raghu Kalluri and Louise McCullough, whose guidance and support have shaped my career.”
The Young Physician-Scientist Award recognizes physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research. The award seeks to encourage and inspire early-career physician-scientists through participation in the organization’s annual joint meeting, as well as virtual community activities throughout the year.
Young Physician-Scientist Award winners demonstrate consistent productivity through author publications, have extramural grants and awards, and are active in and beyond their academic community while demonstrating leadership and collaboration within their specialty and the greater scientific community.
Parchem is a maternal-fetal medicine physician-scientist who is dedicated to improving maternal and child health through research that advances the understanding of pregnancy complications that arise from abnormal placental development. Her current work focuses on mechanisms of placental trophoblast stress that drive preeclampsia and leveraging placental biomarkers in clinical obstetrics.
“My research program aims to improve maternal and child health by defining the biological mechanisms that drive placenta-mediated pregnancy complications, including, preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and stillbirth,” Parchem said. “I thank my team and the OB-GYN department for their support and partnership in this work.”
Her research has been supported by grants from the Preeclampsia Foundation, the Foundation for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, and the Burroughs Welcome Fund.