HHMI Awards 50 New Gilliam Fellowships to Advance Equity and Inclusion in Science

Summary

Fifty graduate students and their advisers join the thriving community supported by the HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program.

Gilliam Fellows build bonds with peers at Gilliam annual meetings, increase their scientific knowledge, and gain important insight and advice from leading scientists at HHMI Science meetings. Credit: Keith Weller

Each July, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute welcomes dozens of graduate students and their advisers into a close-knit community of scientists committed to advancing equity and inclusion. Known as “Gilliam Day,” this annual celebration follows HHMI’s announcement of the newest cohort supported by the Gilliam Fellows Program.

Today, in keeping with this tradition, HHMI congratulates 50 graduate students and their advisers who have been named Gilliam Fellows in recognition of outstanding research in their respective scientific fields and their commitment to building a more inclusive scientific ecosystem. Each student-adviser pair will receive an annual award totaling $53,000 for up to three years.

The Gilliam Fellows Program invests in graduate students and their advisers who embody leadership in science and are committed to advancing equity and inclusion in science. “The Gilliam Fellowship not only supports incredibly talented graduate students who are poised to become future leaders in science,” says Joshua Hall, senior program officer for the Gilliam Fellows Program, “but it also engages thesis advisers and institutions in the work of creating training environments in which all students can thrive.”

Gilliam Fellows attending 2023 annual meeting at HHMI Headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Credit: Keith Weller

The Gilliam community now totals 451 outstanding scientists, tracing back to the program’s launch in 2004. This year’s cohort hails from 37 institutions across the country, including eight institutions receiving their first-ever Gilliam Fellowship award. At these first-time awardee institutions, Gilliam Fellows are working to address key questions in science and human health, including how health disparities impact cancer outcomes and how air pollutants affect the health of high school-aged children.

HHMI’s Gilliam Fellows Program recognizes that advisers play an integral role in helping their students realize their high potential. For this reason, Gilliam advisers participate in a year-long mentorship development course led by Facilitator-Scholars from HHMI’s Scientific Mentorship Initiative. This learning experience includes monthly online interactive webinars and two in-person workshops at HHMI headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland – all of which are designed to teach advisers how to listen and engage across cultures.

“By offering professional development to mentors and supporting the growing Gilliam community, HHMI is working to create lasting change across campuses and throughout the wider scientific community,” says Blanton Tolbert, vice president of HHMI’s Center for the Advancement of Science Leadership and Culture (CASLC), which was established last year.

CASLC houses the Gilliam Fellows Program as well as other HHMI undergraduate- and graduate-level programs designed to bring together academic faculty, administrators, and students working to transform the experience of science education.

“Gilliam Fellows join a diverse and supportive community of scientific leaders who are working to forge new pathways to empower others to achieve personal success,” Tolbert says. “In this way, the program reflects what should be the norm across all of science: today’s students should expect to see leaders from all different backgrounds and experiences, reflecting true equity and inclusion in science.”

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HHMI created the Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study, now called the Gilliam Fellows Program, in 2004 in honor of the late James H. Gilliam, Jr. A charter Trustee of HHMI, Gilliam was a respected business and civic leader who spent his life nurturing excellence and diversity in science and education.

2023 Gilliam Fellows and Advisers

Ngozi Akingbesote

Yale University

Thesis Adviser: Rachel Perry

Nana Yaa Amoh

Harvard Medical School

Thesis Adviser: Raul Mostoslavsky

Destinee Aponte

Harvard Medical School

Thesis Adviser: Christopher Harvey

Deronisha Arceneaux

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Ken Lau

Montserrat Arreguin

University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and Health System

Thesis Adviser: Kellie Jurado

Oscar Arroyo

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Thesis Adviser: Daniel McKay

Maria Ayala

University of California, Davis

Thesis Adviser: James Letts

Aleah Bailey

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Ilona Jaspers

Mayra Banuelos

Brown University

Thesis Adviser: Emilia Huerta-Sanchez

Kimberly Bennett

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Thesis Advisers: Paula Hammond, Joelle Straehla

Olubusayo Bolonduro

The University of Chicago

Thesis Adviser: Andrew Koh

Marcy Cage

University of South Alabama

Thesis Advisers: Thomas Rich, Troy Stevens

Christopher Cousins

Oregon State University

Thesis Adviser: Tiffany Garcia

Alexander Cruz

Cornell University

Thesis Adviser: Jonathan Butcher

Kimberlyn Ellis

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Lea Davis

Irving Estevez

Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Thesis Adviser: Brian Daniels

Abigail Fielder

Wayne State University

Thesis Adviser: Kristen Purrington

Benjamin Garcia

University of New Mexico

Thesis Adviser: Irene Salinas

Roy Garcia

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Thesis Adviser: Maralice Conacci Sorrell

Synphane Gibbs-Shelton

University of Virginia

Thesis Adviser: Ukpong Eyo

Taylor Hailstock

Emory University

Thesis Adviser: Dorothy Lerit

Colin Howe

Pennsylvania State University

Thesis Adviser: Monica Medina

Patricia Hoyos

Princeton University

Thesis Advisers: Jesse Gomez, Sabine Kastner

Rachael Kramp

University of Pittsburgh

Thesis Adviser: Jessica Stephenson

Crystal Lara Santos

University of Pittsburgh

Thesis Adviser: Anne Carlson

Donald Long

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Praveen Sethupathy

Ryan Martinez

University of Wisconsin

Thesis Adviser: Jacob Brunkard

Patricia Mendez

University of California, Los Angeles

Thesis Adviser: Elissa Hallem

Kyndall Nicholas

University of Pennsylvania

Thesis Adviser: D. Kacy Cullen

Megan Onyundo

University of California, Berkeley

Thesis Adviser: Rebecca Heald

Monica Paniagua Montoya

Florida State University

Thesis Advisers: Nora Underwood, Brian Inouye

Alyssa Paparella

Baylor College of Medicine

Thesis Advisers: Cheryl Walker, Nicolas Young

Eleana Parajón

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Douglas Robinson

Yoselin Paucar Iza

Weill Cornell Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Chrysothemis Brown

Autumn Peterson

Georgia Institute of Technology

Thesis Adviser: William Ratcliff

Bonita Powell

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Mollie Meffert

April Pruitt

Yale University

Thesis Advisers: Ellen Hoffman, Kristen Brennand

Jesús Romero-Pichardo

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Thesis Adviser: Justin Perry

Rio Salazar

The University of Chicago

Thesis Adviser: Robert Carrillo

Andrea Sama

University of California, San Diego

Thesis Adviser: Alexandra Dickinson

Yamil Sanchez-Rosario

University of Arizona

Thesis Adviser: Michael Johnson

Yessica Santana Agreda

Oregon Health & Science University

Thesis Adviser: Kevin Wright

Karina Silvestre Bringas

University of Idaho

Thesis Adviser: Chris Hamilton

Susana Simmonds Bohorquez

University of Washington

Thesis Adviser: Kelly Stevens

Kiandra Smith

Morehouse School of Medicine

Thesis Adviser: Jason DeBruyne

Anaïs Tsai