University of Illinois College of Medicine Holds 2025 Alumni Awards Ceremony
About the Awards
Each year, the University of Illinois College of Medicine honors select alumni for outstanding contributions in their fields. This year's award winners range from recipients who have made groundbreaking strides in heart and lung transplants, to those deeply involved in community service and health equity, to those guiding the country's health data mechanisms and reporting.
Michael R. Bristow '66, MD '70, PhD '71 – Distinguished Alumni Award
Dr. Bristow is a tenured Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and former Head of Cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He is the co-founder of the University of Colorado Cardiovascular Institute, a joint venture between the Boulder and Medical campuses, where he directs the Section of Pharmacogenomics. Prior to his accomplishments at UC, he served as project leader on the NIH program project grant that developed heart and heart/lung transplantation, and co-founded the first multi-hospital cardiac transplant program in the U.S. at the University of Utah. He is the author of over 450 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of heart failure, cardiac transplantation, cancer chemotherapy, virus-induced myocardial injury, genomics, and pharmacogenomics.
In addition to his academic accomplishments, Dr. Bristow has founded and co-founded several biotechnology companies including Genvara Biopharma, ARCA Biopharma, Myogen, Inc., and Miragen, Inc. He has received numerous awards, including the Therapeutic Frontiers Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy for developing B-blockade as a treatment for heart failure, the PhRMA Clinical Trials Exceptional Service Award for developing carvedilol as a treatment for heart failure, the Heart Failure Society of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the American College of Cardiology’s Distinguished Scientist (Translational Domain) Award.
Dr. Bristow’s education and training includes a Bachelor of Science in Veterinary Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MD/PhD from UI COM. He completed an internal medicine residency as well as oncology and cardiology fellowships at Stanford, and received postdoctoral training in molecular pharmacology at UI COM and Duke.
Jeanne Y. Wei, MD/PhD ’75 – Distinguished Alumni Award
Dr. Wei is the Jackson T. Stephens Professor of Geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Chair of the Reynolds Department of Geriatrics, and Executive Director of the Reynolds Institute on Aging (RIOA). She is board certified in internal medicine, geriatrics, and cardiovascular medicine, and sees patients at the Thomas and Lyon Longevity Clinic at RIOA. Prior to joining UAMS, she served as both director of the Division on Aging at Harvard and chief of the Gerontology Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
She has received continuous NIH funding for more than 35 years, and is recognized internationally for her contributions to aging research. Dr. Wei has secured six medical-related U.S. patents, published more than 200 scientific articles, and authored six books including Aging Well: The Complete Guide to Physical and Emotional Health. A gifted teacher, Dr. Wei has received numerous teaching awards such as the Outstanding Clinical Educator Award from Harvard as well as the Outstanding Woman Faculty Award and Red Sash Award for Excellence in Teaching, both from UAMS. IN 2025, Dr. Wei was honored by having an endowed chair established in her name, the Jeanna Wei, MD, PhD, Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Geriatric Medicine at UAMS in Little Rock, AR.
After obtaining MD and PhD degrees from UI COM, Dr. Wei completed an internal medicine residency and a cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins, as well as a staff fellowship in gerontology at the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Aging in Baltimore.
Vijay S. Khiani, BS/BA ’01, MD ’05 – Alumni Humanitarian Award
Dr. Khiani founded New Life Volunteering Society (NLVS) in August 1999 during his undergraduate studies as part of the UIC Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions (GPPA) track. NLVS is a not-for-profit service organization that focuses on community service, education, and healthcare, and which serves those experiencing hunger and food insecurity, those experiencing homelessness, those with mental and physical disabilities or impairments, and underprivileged children. NLVS offers numerous pathways of community support, ranging from food pantry service, to a free one-on-one tutoring program for Chicago Public Schools students, to community relief for environmental disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in addition to international medical mission trip work. Notably, Dr. Khiani oversees a free medical clinic NLVS opened in partnership with the IAMA Charitable Foundation in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, which supports a diverse population with the help of student volunteers, attending physicians, phlebotomists, pharmacists, and translators. The clinic has a shared medical appointment program that includes health education for those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure to help patients understand and manage their illness. Dr. Khiani dedicates countless hours mentoring undergraduate and medical students to develop programs serving their community, and NLVS has expanded into seven universities across the Chicagoland area.
Dr. Khiani completed his internal medicine and international residency at Case Western Reserve University in 2008 and a fellowship in gastroenterology at Yale University in 2011.
Neha Goel, MD ’10, MPH – Alumni Early Achievement Award
Dr. Goel currently serves as Jeanne Petrek Junior Faculty Chair, Chief of Disparities of the Department of Surgery, and Associate Attending on faculty of the Breast Service, Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2021, she established and currently leads the Miami Breast Cancer Disparities Study, a multi-institutional and epidemiologic-omic cohort study that led to the discovery of critical clinical distinctions in the Hispanic Black breast cancer population, including the presence of breast cancer-specific survival disparities by the neighborhoods in which patients live—independent of tumor and treatment—and the discovery that living in disadvantaged neighborhoods is associated with more aggressive breast cancer biology. Dr. Goel also developed the Translational Epidemiological Framework, a conceptual model to bridge the field of disparities with tumor biology, and has developed a field of researcher called the Social Genomic Determinants of Health to understand how one’s built and social environment influences cancer biology.
In addition to her career in research, Dr. Goel was the editor of the World Health Organization’s Global Breast Cancer Initiative Navigation Technical Brief Document, associate editor of the World Health Organization’s Global Breast Cancer Initiative Technical Framework, a member of the Lancet Commission on Cancer, and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed original research articles, textbook chapters, and editorials. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Bamberger Academic Scholar Award from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, the American Surgical Fellowship Award from the American Surgical Association, the National Cancer Institute ECOG-ACRIN NCI Cancer Control Pilot Award, and a National Institutes of Health R01/R37 MERIT Award, among many others. Her academic achievements include a surgical internship and residency at Columbia University Medical Center – New York Presbyterian, surgical oncology training at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, and a Center for Surgery and Public Health Research Fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
Jennifer E. Layden, MD/PhD '05, Resident '07, Fellow '10 – Alumni Early Achievement Award
Dr. Layden is the Senior Vice President for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO. The Association is a nonprofit organization committed to supporting the work of state and territorial public health officials and furthering the development and excellence of public health policy nationwide.
Prior to this position, Dr. Layden served as the former Director of the nation’s Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she oversaw the country’s public health data and surveillance modernization effort. She was responsible for leading, coordinating and executing a comprehensive public health data strategy and improving the availability and use of public health data to inform decision-making and action. Dr. Layden previously served as Deputy Director in the Center of Disease Control’s Office of Science. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including CDC’s Charles C. Shepard Science Award. She also served as the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer for the Chicago Department of Public Health and as the State Epidemiologist and Chief Medical Officer for the Illinois Department of Public Health. Dr. Layden played key roles in public health responses to COVID-19, EVALI, hepatitis A and synthetic cannabinoid contamination at the state and local level. Dr. Layden has published over 90 peer reviewed articles, and has been a keynote and invited speaker at both national and international medical public health conferences.
In 2005, Dr. Layden received both her Doctor of Medicine and her PhD in epidemiology from the UI COM and the UIC School of Public Health.