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Congratulations Lexi Soltesz, a PhD student in the Translational Neuroscience Program at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Soltesz has been named recipient of the 2025 Anthony F. DiMarco MD Award for the abstract “Mild Intermittent Hypoxia May Improve Sleep Quality and Cognition in Individuals with SCI.”
Her research interests are centered around autonomic dysfunction and sleep impairments in humans. Likewise, she is interested in the real-life translatable outcomes of these impairments and how they impact activity limitations and disability. Currently, she works in Dr. Gino Panza’s laboratory investigating the impact of mild intermittent hypoxia on autonomic dysreflexia and orthostatic hypotension, as well as the neural plasticity of breathing (i.e. ventilatory long-term facilitation) in those with motor incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). She is also investigating how this plasticity may translate into improvements in upper airway function during sleep in these individuals. Finally, as part of her doctoral studies, Lexi aims to elucidate the relationship between autonomic dysfunction, impaired sleep, and neural plasticity following mild intermittent hypoxia in those living with SCI.
The Anthony F. DiMarco MD Award is an award given in the area of respiratory to foster research in spinal cord injury, engage individuals and enhancing membership in ASIA. Dr. DiMarco is a Professor of Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Physiology and Biophysics at Case Western Reserve University. For more than two decades, Dr. DiMarco has been a leader in researching the restoration of respiratory muscle function in persons with spinal cord injury. He has received more than $17 million in funding as a Principal Investigator by the National Institutes of Health and the Food & Drug Administration over the past 25 years.
Lexi Soltesz will be presented with the 2025 Anthony F. DiMarco MD award during the ASIA Annual Scientific Meeting in Arizona, June 1-4.
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Past Anthony F. DiMarco MD Award Recipients |
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| 2024 | Kajana Satkunendrarajah, PhD | Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin |
| 2022 | C. Kevin Park, MD | Board-certified internist in Salt Lake City, Utah, specializing in SCI |
| 2021 | Michelle Trbovich, MD | Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Department of Rehabilitation |
| 2020 | Ronald J. Cotton, MD, PhD | Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Clinician-Scientist within the Center for Bionic Medicine at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. |
| 2019 | Audrey Chun, MD | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) |
| 2019 | Chris Cherian, MD | Rutgers New Jersey Medical School/Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation |
.Award Rules and Eligibility
The submission deadline for the Anthony F. DiMarco MD Award is the closing date for the General ASIA Call for Abstracts.
After reviewing all submitted abstracts, the Awards Committee will determine and notify the winner.
If you have any questions about this award or your submission, please email Patty Duncan patty@asia-spinalinjury.org
