SHREVEPORT, La. — LSU Health Shreveport marked a year of research growth and recognized leading investigators during its eighth annual Research Celebration on April 16, underscoring expanded funding, faculty recruitment and infrastructure plans.
The event honored 2025 Research Excellence Award recipients across multiple categories. Arif Yurdagul Jr. received the award for excellence in extramural funding, while Oren Rom was recognized for innovation and technology transfer. Kelly Tatchell received the career service award, and Nirav Dhanesha was named research rising star.
Awards for excellence in scholarly activity were presented to Hongyan Guo, Hongxue Shi, Khalid El Saafien, Tousif Sultan and Hind Lal. William M. Comegys III received the Community Champion Award.
Institutional leaders also highlighted recent gains in research capacity. Since July 2024, LSU Health Shreveport has recruited 18 research faculty members from institutions nationwide, bringing more than $20 million in new funding from the National Institutes of Health and expanding expertise across key research areas.
The growth has created demand for additional laboratory space. To address that need, the LSU Health Shreveport Foundation acquired a former Sears building at Mall St. Vincent near campus. The 181,000-square-foot property sits on 18 acres and includes 800 parking spaces. Plans call for redevelopment of the site into a research facility.
In February, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved the next चरण of the Research Expansion Project, advancing the redevelopment effort.
The expansion aligns with a broader initiative across the LSU Flagship, which includes LSU, LSU Health New Orleans, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the LSU AgCenter. The effort aims to position the LSU system among the nation’s top 50 research institutions.