Everett named 2024 IU School of Medicine Showalter Scholars

Thomas Everett, PhD, associate professor of medicine, was one of four outstanding scientists to receive the 2024 Showalter Scholars Award from IU School of Medicine.

These research awards, funded by the Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Trust and IU School of Medicine, support research that is “most likely to benefit mankind.” The program awards up to $75,000 in funding per scholar over the course of three years and is particularly useful to emergent scientists in advancing their work.

Everett is an expert in heart rate variability analysis and the sympathetic nervous system and is a member of the IU School of Medicine’s Krannert Cardiovascular Research Center. He is recognized for his innovative work in non-invasive, wearable devices to monitor nerve activity in cardiac patients.

Everett’s lab developed SKNA technology, which can non-invasively measure sympathetic nerve activity over long periods of time using signals recorded from ECG electrodes placed on the skin. The technology received an Indiana TechPoint Mira Award for Innovation of the Year in 2017 and has continued to advance through several NIH grants.

“Dr. Everett has fostered extensive collaborations with faculty within the IU School of Medicine, in the Purdue University Department of Biomedical Engineering and at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,” noted David Aronoff, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, and Richard Kovacs, MD, interim chair of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, in a joint nomination for Everett.

“His scientific expertise and productivity within the field of cardiac electrophysiology and the autonomic nervous system have resulted in significant contributions to the IU School of Medicine and the research community,” Aronoff and Kovacs wrote.

Among Everett’s many collaborative research projects is an NIH-funded research program involving multiple research centers worldwide evaluating the effect of the nervous system on peripheral organs.

“He is becoming one of the major leaders in the field of cardiac arrhythmia research,” wrote Peng-Sheng Chen, MD, a collaborator from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in a letter supporting Everett’s nomination. Chen and Everett have published over 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts together advancing scientific knowledge in the field.