This year's SADS Young Investigator Award was a close call between two excellent submissions. The winner, Stacy A. S. Killen, M.D., was celebrated at the annual PACES dinner at the Heart Rhythm Society Conference in Boston, MA on May 13th, 2009.

Dr. Killen's, a 4th year fellow in Pediatric Cardiology at Vanderbilt University, research resulted in a paper titled SCN5A Allelic Expression Imbalance in African-Americans Heterozygous for the Common Variant S1103Y. Co-Authors include: Jennifer Kunic, B.S. 2; Lily Wang, Ph.D. 3; Adele Lewis, M.D. 4; Bruce P. Levy, M.D. 4, Michael J. Ackerman, M.D. Ph.D. 5. Supervisor: Alfred George Jr., M.D. 

The purpose of the Second Annual SADS Foundation Young Investigator Award in Cardiac Channelopathies is “... to encourage the next generation of researchers in SADS conditions”, said Dr. Michael Ackerman, SADS Foundation Board Chair and researcher at the Mayo Clinic. The award committee received numerous submissions and we would like to thank them for their service: J. Philip Saul, MD, Medical University of South Carolina—chair; Michael Ackerman, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic; Robert Hamilton, MD, University of Toronto.

Dr. Killen has received $500 and recognition with a SADS Foundation Young Investigator Award plaque that was presented at the PACES dinner.