Two University of Chicago Medicine–led studies were selected by the Clinical Research (CR) Forum as among the top three best clinical research papers of 2016.

CR Forum is a national organization of senior researchers and leaders in clinical thought from leading academic health centers, pharmaceutical firms, information technology, and nonprofits.

The Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award is the CR Forum’s highest honor, and comes with a $5,000 cash prize. This year, it was awarded to geneticist Carole Ober, Ph.D., University chairman and professor of human genetics, and immunologist Anne Sperling, Ph.D., University associate professor of medicine, for their study, “Innate Immunity and Asthma Risk in Amish and Hutterite Farm Children,” published August 4, 2016, in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study examines environmental risk factors for susceptibility to asthma and allergies, comparing two U.S. farming populations: the Amish of Indiana and the Hutterites of South Dakota.

The Distinguished Clinical Research Achievement Awards honor two studies that demonstrate creativity or innovation, and whose works have an immediate impact on the well-being of patients. One of these was granted to University professors Bhakti Patel, M.D., and John P. Kress, M.D., for their study titled “Effect of Noninvasive Ventilation Delivered by Helmet vs. Face Mask on the Rate of Endotracheal Intubation in Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.”

The study found that helmet ventilation, as opposed to a traditional face mask, dramatically reduced the chances of patients needing a tube ventilator, and made patients 20 percent more likely to survive Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.