SHREVEPORT, La. — LSU Health Shreveport said postdoctoral researcher Nilesh Pandey has become the first trainee in the institution’s history to receive a National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award, marking a milestone for the school’s research program.
The competitive NIH Pathway to Independence Award, also known as the K99/R00 award, is administered by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and is designed to help outstanding postdoctoral researchers transition to independent faculty careers.
Pandey received a two-year K99 award totaling $217,296 to support his research project, “Novel Mechanisms for Lung Cancer Associated Thrombosis.”
The award recognizes Pandey’s research into cancer-associated thrombosis, a potentially life-threatening complication in which cancer patients develop dangerous blood clots. His work focuses on how lung cancer alters immune cells known as neutrophils and how those changes contribute to clot formation.
“Generally, lung cancer patients are at a much higher risk of developing dangerous blood clots, which increases both morbidity and mortality,” Pandey said. “My research focuses on how lung cancer changes immune cells, particularly neutrophils, and how those changes promote life-threatening blood clots.”
The research aims to identify new therapeutic targets that could prevent clotting complications without increasing the risk of bleeding.
Pandey joined LSU Health Shreveport as a postdoctoral fellow in November 2022 after earning his doctoral degree in India and completing additional academic research before moving to the United States.
LSU Health Shreveport said it has previously recruited faculty members who had secured K99 or R00 funding elsewhere, but Pandey is the first researcher to earn the award while completing postdoctoral training at the institution.
Pandey credited faculty mentors and institutional support for helping him secure the funding, recognizing primary mentor Nirav Dhanesha, co-mentor Wayne Orr and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Oren Rom.
“This award does not belong only to me,” Pandey said. “It belongs to the collective effort of all the people around me.”
The NIH funding adds to LSU Health Shreveport’s externally funded research portfolio and supports broader efforts across the LSU system to expand its research enterprise and strengthen its national standing.