In a routine established during his doctoral studies, Daniel Cook, MD, PhD, has attended the annual AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting in Chicago every spring. This April, that tradition will take on a new meaning when the American Society for Clinical Investigation honors Cook with a Young Physician-Scientist Award (YPSA).

David Stoltz, MD, PhD, director for the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, announced Cook’s YPSA selection earlier this week. In his announcement, Stoltz wrote, “This award recognizes physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research.”

A physician-scientist and assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, Cook leads a research program that investigates the intersection of allergic disease and cystic fibrosis (CF).

After earning his MD and PhD at the University of Iowa, he joined the Tinsley Harrison Society at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where he completed fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Cook started his faculty career at VUMC and developed the research program he brought to Iowa after joining the faculty here.

Cook’s research grew out of a central question: in the era of CFTR modulators, what disease mechanisms remain unaddressed for patients who are unresponsive to the novel therapy? His work has found that dysregulated interactions between airway epithelial cells and immune cells contribute to persistent lung inflammation in CF. By identifying immune pathways that remain active despite modulator treatment, his program aims to repurpose existing biologic therapies as adjuncts or alternatives, with the goal of improving lung function and addressing CF as a multi-organ inflammatory disease.

Acknowledgements
Cook thanks the following for his YSPA recognition:

• David Stoltz, MD, PhD, who served as Cook’s PhD mentor and continued to advise him throughout his transition to early career independence.
• Stokes Peebles, MD, prior section chief of Vanderbilt’s Allergy and Immunology program, for mentoring Cook during his postdoctoral studies.
• Michael Welsh, MD, a nationally recognized physician-scientist at the University of Iowa, who nominated Cook for the award.