Kudos to Dr. Brad Phillips, who along with UGA researchers Drs. Katie Ehrlich and Ted Ross, was honored with the Presidents’ Award of Distinction for Team Science from the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance at a virtual conference held earlier this spring.

The three UGA faculty were recognized for their interdisciplinary collaboration in studying immune responses to influenza vaccination, each from a different disciplinary perspective.

Georgia CTSA is a National Institutes of Health-funded initiative that brings together UGA, Emory University, Georgia Tech and the Morehouse School of Medicine to facilitate clinical and translational research and help spread the health benefits of such research to all areas of the state. The Presidents’ Award, which carries $5,000 in funding, is given to multidisciplinary teams that conduct “innovative and impactful research that has, or will likely, advance clinical and translational science and positively impact human health

Phillips, a Professor in the College of Pharmacy’s CAP Department and Director of the Biomedical and Translational Sciences Institute, also came on board to investigate how sleep problems, including sleep apnea and disrupted sleep schedules, are associated with immune response.

“As key factors are so varied, sometimes intertwined, across many different disciplines and areas of research, a team approach is really the only way to advance what we know and how we prevent and treat influenza,” said Phillips, who serves as UGA’s principal investigator on the Georgia CTSA grant. “Everyone adds important and unique components that are synergistic.”