UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) is pleased to announce Mohanraj Krishnan as the recipient of the 2026 Lloyd Prize for Innovative Health Research made possible by a generous endowment created by Dr. Thomas Lloyd, a former College of Medicine faculty member.
Mohanraj Krishnan is an assistant professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development. Krishnan is also an SSRI faculty affiliate, a co-funded faculty member with the Penn State Cancer Institute and an affiliate of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additionally, he runs the Multi-omics Discovery and Exploration Lab (MoDEL), which aims to improve scientific understanding of metabolic disease and its intersection with cancer and other related diseases.
His project, “Breaking the Silos: Advancing Precision and Equity in Cardiovascular Kidney Metabolic Disease (CKMD) Risk Assessment,” will evaluate the impact and validity of CKMD staging guidelines in Hispanic/Latino populations through identifying population-specific factors that may improve risk prediction and reduce disease misclassification.
“Tēnā koutou - I’m absolutely thrilled to receive this year’s Lloyd Prize! This support will go a long way in helping us address gaps in CKMD diagnosis and care, especially for communities that are too often overlooked,” Krishnan said.
Cardiovascular Kidney Metabolism Disease (CKMD) is currently categorized as a group of interrelated risk factors that significantly elevate the risk of morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and metabolic dysfunction. The American Heart Association (AHA) divides CKMD by five stages (0-4), with each stage characterized by combinations of cardiovascular disease, kidney and metabolic health markers.
Each CKMD stage reflects a progression in severity, from individuals with no detectable risk or organ damage (Stage 0) to those with advanced multiorgan involvement and high risk of adverse outcomes (Stage 4). This framework provides a comprehensive approach to assessing overlapping risk and guiding stage-specific management.
The AHA recently issued a scientific statement describing CKMD to improve clinical risk stratification and coordinated multidisciplinary management, underscoring its public health importance. Despite the importance of the CKMD framework in addressing stage-specific cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic care, the current model relies on diagnostic criteria and risk prediction tools developed and validated primarily in non-Hispanic White populations.
Although newer risk estimator tools exist that aim to reduce misclassification by integrating risk factors into a unified, evidence-based model, disease risk misclassification may still occur for certain individuals or populations. These limitations raise concerns about the accuracy and equity of CKMD staging in racial and ethnic minority populations affected by socioeconomic and structural barriers to healthcare.
“Addressing these limitations is essential to ensuring that CKMD risk assessment and management strategies are both precise and equitable - no matter their background or where they live,” Krishnan said.
Krishnan’s project has two main goals. First, he will track how CKMD stages change over time among Hispanic/Latino participants in the Border Health Research Cohort, using current guidelines to see who gets better, worse, or moves between stages. Second, he will examine how factors like body measurements, clinical data, and social conditions affect CKMD risk and whether including these factors can make staging more accurate and reduce errors.
“This work has the potential to make a real difference in public health and clinical care by improving how CKMD is identified and understood - not only in the Hispanic/Latino communities but for everyone,” said Krishnan.
He hopes that by systematically evaluating the performance and applicability of current stage-based criteria, he will be able to improve risk prediction accuracy, reduce disease misclassification, and enhance early detection for high-risk individuals. The work that Krishnan will build with this project will serve as a model for other underserved, high-burden populations in the future.
The Lloyd Prize for Innovative Research is funded by an endowment that provides an annual prize that includes funds for salary and research support. Thomes Lloyd was a faculty member of the College of Medicine from 1975 to 2021, spanning a 46-year career. His philanthropy reflects his value of lifelong learning and his determination to try to make the world a better place.
The Lloyd Prize will rotate through the following colleges at Penn State annually: the College of Medicine, the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, the College of Health and Human Development, the Eberly College of Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Information Sciences and Technology, the College of the Liberal Arts, and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
“We are immensely grateful to Dr. Lloyd for his investment in research and are thrilled that this funding will enable Dr. Krishnan to continue his critical research on reducing health disparities for Cardiovascular Kidney Metabolic Disease,” said Deborah Ehrenthal, director of SSRI.
Please visit SSRI’s website for more information or subscribe to SSRI’s biweekly newsletter for updates. SSRI enables and facilitates research that addresses critical human and social challenges at the local, national, and international levels. The institute supports over 60 co-funded faculty positioned within nine colleges and over 500 faculty across nine campuses via its affiliate program and various funding mechanisms.