During its 40th Annual Meeting, the North American Spine Society (NASS) announced the winners of its 2025 Research Funding Program, whose grants and traveling fellowships provide funding for promising projects by qualified spine care investigators.

Since 1989, NASS has funded more than $5.3 million in grants and traveling fellowships for spine-related research. A total of $172,495 was awarded to this year’s recipients based on scientific merit, project significance, approach, and feasibility. Award recipients were selected by the NASS Research Funding Committee and Evidence Analysis & Research Council, and approved by the NASS Executive Committee.

The 2025 Research Funding Recipients included:

Grants

• Young Investigator – Basic: “Extracellular vesicles derived from Tie2-enhanced nucleus pulposus progenitor cells: an innovative cell-free therapy for intervertebral disc degeneration”
  Principal Investigator: Luca Ambrosio, M.D.
  Amount: $45,000
• Young Investigator – Basic: “Optimizing Spinal Fusion and Infection Control: Investigating the Impact of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists on Bone Healing and Implant-Associated Infections in Diabetic and Obese Subjects”
  Principal Investigator: William Louis Sheppard Jr., M.D.
  Amount: $40,000
• Graduate Research Seed Grant – Basic: “Mapping RNA Methylation Patterns to Stratify Spinal Cord Injury Heterogeneity and Prognosis”
  Graduate Student Investigator: Akshat D. Modi, MSc, HBSc
  Amount: $5,000
• Young Investigator – Translational: “Rib Fixation for Prevention of Proximal Junctional Kyphosis (PJK) in Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery”
  Principal Investigator: Daniel Bonthius, M.D., Ph.D.
  Amount: $40,000
• Translational Grant: “Spinal-Specific Neural Progenitors for Targeted Reconstruction of Cervical Spinal Circuits in Spinal Cord Injury”
  Principal Investigator: Mohamad Khazaei, Ph.D.
  Amount: $25,000

Traveling Fellowships

• Research Award Recipient: Bhavya Pahwa, MBBS
  Amount: $7,000
• Clinical Award Recipient: Nishank Harish Mehta, MBBS
  Amount: $4,770
• Clinical Award Recipient: Jose Roberto Acosta Gomez, M.D.
  Amount: $5,725

NASS is a global multidisciplinary medical organization dedicated to fostering high-quality, ethical, evidence- and value-based spine care by promoting education, research, and advocacy. NASS membership is comprised of spine professionals from several disciplines, including orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, physiatry, radiology, anesthesiology, research and physical therapy.