ICOMBO early career researcher prize
This prize is awarded to a researcher in the early years of their career (5 years of their PhD or other postgraduate qualification), whose work is of importance to multiples and/or their families. The winner is chosen from their presentations to the ISTS Congress. The winning paper needs to demonstrate how their findings will impact the lives of multiples and/or their families.
The 2025 prize was awarded to Dr Nichole Cubbage (Department of Public Health, Behavioral and Health Sciences, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, United States) for an excellent, clearly presented paper on an under-researched topic with major relevance to the multiples community.
Her findings provide a springboard for further work, and she has founded The International Vanishing Twin Syndrome Foundation to support families. Dr Cubbage also presented “Addressing patient-provider communication gaps in vanishing twin syndrome: implications for patient care and clinical guidelines,” which was very clearly presented.
At Twins Congress 2024 we were delighted to give out our Early Career Researcher award. Lorna Hibberd was a very worthy recipient for the work she is doing to support siblings of babies in NICU.
This is very important for the multiples community as a significant number of twins, and especially triplets and more, end up there. It can be a very challenging time for families, including siblings.
No prize was awarded in 2023 due to a lack of suitable papers.
The inaugural prize was awarded at the 2021 ISTS Congress.
The winner was Sophie Groene from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands for her work on Selective Fetal Growth Restriction (SFGR).
Read more about Sophie and her research.
For information on the 2027 award, contact Carolyn- chair@icombo.org