Mohammad Saleem, PhD, research instructor in Medicine in the Division of Genetic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt Health, is the recipient of the 2026 Shih‐Chun Wang Young Investigator Award from the American Physiological Society.
The award recognizes individuals who demonstrate “outstanding promise” in physiological sciences research. It is named for the late Shih-Chun Wang, PhD, a Columbia University pharmacologist known for developing drugs to prevent motion sickness-related vomiting.
The one-year, $10,000 award to Vanderbilt Health is designated for Saleem’s research, which focuses on immune cell-mediated salt-sensitivity of blood pressure (SSBP), an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death.
Saleem earned his PhD in Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Houston. He completed two postdoctoral research fellowships at Vanderbilt Health, and is a member of the lab of Annet Kirabo, DVM, MSc, PhD, associate professor of Medicine.
Through his research, Saleem seeks to bridge the fields of salt-sensitive hypertension and autoimmunity by providing new mechanistic insights into how high dietary sodium intake disrupts immune regulation and promotes disease.
He received his award on April 25 during the American Physiology Summit in Minneapolis.
