Chicago, September 15, 2025 — JAMA and the JAMA Network today announces the selection of 13 early-career clinical and health services researchers for the 2025–2026 JAMA Network Peer Review Academy, a virtual program designed to cultivate excellence in peer reviewing and deepen understanding of editorial decision-making.

Scholars were chosen based on their demonstrated interest in clinical or health services research and a career in academic medicine, as well as their communication skills, knowledge of medical research and study design, and commitment to scholarly collaboration. This global cohort includes scholars from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

Over nine months, scholars will participate in monthly interactive workshops led by JAMA Network editors and complete three peer reviews with guidance from a mentor. Upon completing the program, scholars will acquire insight into the editorial and peer review process, along with valuable feedback on their own reviews.

The 2025–2026 Peer Review Academy scholars are:

Julia Bianca Bardoczi, M.D., an internal medicine physician at the University Hospital of Bern and an adjunct researcher at the University of Bern. Her research focuses on cardiovascular disease prevention, multimorbidity in older adults, and deprescribing.

Marlene Joannie Bewa, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., is a family medicine physician and faculty member and assistant scientist in the International Health Department and Center for Global Digital Health Innovations at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on reproductive, maternal, and adolescent health, contraception access, and the design and use of digital health innovations, such as telemedicine, across the globe.

Patrick R Ching, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and an Associate Hospital Epidemiologist at VCU Medical Center. His area of expertise is infectious diseases with interest in clinical and healthcare epidemiology and travel medicine.

Stephanie DeMasi, M.D., MS.C., is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her area of expertise is in the evaluation of time-sensitive interventions to improve the care of patients experiencing critical illness in the emergency department and intensive care unit.

Blake Gimbel, Ph.D., is a pediatric neuropsychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University. His research centers on understanding and supporting brain development in children and adolescents with a history of prenatal exposure to alcohol and other substances, and he has made contributions in the areas of remote neurocognitive assessment, advanced neuroimaging analysis, and longitudinal modeling of structural brain development trajectories.

Xander Jacquemyn, M.D., is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His research focuses on surgical outcomes, digital health, and health systems innovation in cardiothoracic surgery.

Jing Jin, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Her research focuses on observational studies, clinical trials, and genetic epidemiology, with an emphasis on advancing population-scale genomics through innovative analytic methods that integrate diverse data types from human samples.

Xintong Li, DPhil, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on using large-scale health data to evaluate the real-world safety and effectiveness of vaccines and drugs, with contributions on COVID-19 vaccine safety and expertise in pharmacoepidemiology, causal inference, common data models, and multi-database studies.

Ahmad Mourad, M.D., M.H.S., is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Duke University School of Medicine and the Duke Clinical Research Institute. His expertise and interests are in clinical trial design and implementation.

Shannon Ogden, M.P.H., Ph.D., is a Delivery Science Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. Her research interests lie in the implementation and evaluation of innovations that address intimate partner violence, substance use, mental health, and the integration of healthcare and social services.

Dylan (Rhino) Ryan, M.D., an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Division of Stroke and Vascular Neurology at the Duke University School of Medicine. His research centers on secondary stroke prevention in patients with cancer, including those afflicted with brain tumors and those receiving radiation therapy.

Megha Sharma, M.D., M.S., is a neonatologist and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Her research centers on neonatal cardiorespiratory monitoring, with a focus on pulse oximetry innovation and detection of occult hypoxia in critically ill infants.

Remziye Zaim, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.Sc., M.S., is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Her expertise includes health technology assessment, health policy and management, regulatory science, and the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled health systems across North America, Europe, and Australia.

For more information, contact JAMA Network Media Relations at 312-464-JAMA (5252) or email media relations.