HIMA, API – Doctoral Dissertation Award

Recognizing the importance of digital and computational pathology and the amazing work several bright doctoral students have been doing in these fields, Histopathological Image Analysis (HIMA), a workshop organized as part of the Association for Pathology Informatics (API) Pathology Informatics Summit since 2007, has established a doctoral dissertation award in digital and computational pathology. The overarching goal is to encourage the next generation of leaders in the field while recognizing high-quality research.

Interested students are encouraged to send

  • A cover letter introducing the candidate and outlining their accomplishments (in any format, no page limit)
  • A 5-page summary of the PhD dissertation (background, key findings, important publications resulting from the work) (minimum: 11-point font)
  • Curriculum Vitae (in any format, no page limit)
  • Letter(s) of support by PhD the dissertation supervisor(s) (in any format, no page limit)
  • A sample publication (pdf preferred)

to [email protected] with the subject line: “PhD Dissertation Award” by September 1, 2025. Each application email will be acknowledged by email.

Eligibility and recognition:

  • This award is open to PhD students from all over the world. We highly encourage women and underrepresented minorities to apply.
  • Dissertations written and successfully defended in the last three years (i.e., after Sept. 1, 2022) will be considered.
  • Each dissertation will be considered by the committee only once.
  • The awardee should be willing to travel to Minneapolis, MN, for HIMA 2026 Workshop (May 18, 2026) to present the work for an hour, attend the workshop, and receive the award certificate that API will provide. Reasonable travel expenses up to $1000 ($1500 for international travelers) will be reimbursed, and the workshop registration will be waived.

A committee (listed below) will review the submitted materials and decide on the best dissertation award by December 1, 2025.

HIMA Dissertation Award Selection Committee

1. Metin Gurcan, PhD, Senior Associate Dean for Artificial Intelligence, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA
2. Cigdem Gunduz Demir, PhD, Professor of Computer Engineering, Director of the AI Center at Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
3. Inti Zlobec, PhD, Professor of Digital Pathology at the Institute of Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, Switzerland
4. Bin Li, PhD, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Oxford, England (2025 Best Dissertation Award Winner)

Previous Winners

  • 2025: Bin Li, PhD, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Oxford, England, Dissertation: 
    “Deep Learning Methods for Fibrotic Tissue Microenvironment Analysis.” 
  • 2024: Mohamed Amgad Tageldin, MD, PhD, Pathology Resident at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, Dissertation: “Computational discovery of interpretable histopathologic prognostic biomarkers in invasive carcinomas of the breast.”

If you are interested in donating to this prestigious award, please CLICK HERE.