Howard Hughes Medical Institute Awards 166 Fellowships for Graduate Education, Medical Student Research Training

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has awarded 166 fellowships to enable some of the world’s most promising young scientists to receive advanced training in biomedical research.

Eighty-five of the fellowships are five-year awards for graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees in the biological sciences. The other 81 fellowships will enable medical students to take a year off from their medical studies to pursue research full time, or to resume their medical studies after a year of research.

“The fellowship awards to these outstanding students are an important investment in the future of fundamental research,” said HHMI President Purnell W. Choppin. “We look forward to their future careers as independent scientists and physician-scientists who will make significant contributions to our understanding of basic biological processes and disease mechanisms.”

HHMI, the nation’s largest private philanthropy, now supports 475 students at 67 academic institutions through these two programs. A third fellowship program enables physicians with clinical experience to receive training in basic research for three years. Altogether, HHMI has provided $115 million in fellowship support since 1988 to 1,600 outstanding students and physician-scientists.

“These remarkable students will work with superb mentors who are committed to helping them learn the challenge, rigor, and excitement of fundamental research,” said Joseph G. Perpich, HHMI’s vice president for grants and special programs. “Each spring, through their progress reports and presentations at our annual meetings of fellows, we see evidence of the fellows' creativity and productivity at the leading edge of biomedical research.”

Predoctoral Fellowships in Biological Sciences
The Predoctoral Fellowships in Biological Sciences support students for up to five years while they pursue full-time study toward a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree. The program now supports 375 predoctoral students at an annual cost of more than $11 million. Each $30,000 predoctoral award includes an annual stipend of $15,000 and a $15,000 cost-of-education allowance, which goes to the fellowship institution. Eligible fields include biochemistry, biophysics, biostatistics, cell biology, developmental biology, epidemiology, genetics, immunology, mathematical and computational biology, microbiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, pharmacology, physiology, structural biology and virology. This year’s 85 new fellows, including 42 men and 43 women, are planning graduate study at 29 academic institutions in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. Ten of the fellows are from minority groups underrepresented in the sciences. The group includes 69 U.S. citizens and 5 fellows from Canada, 3 from People’s Republic of China, 2 from Russia, and 1 each from Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students
The Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students will enable 60 medical students to conduct biomedical research full time in a laboratory of their choice for one year. The 39 men and 21 women selected this year will study at 21 institutions. Six of the fellows are from minority groups underrepresented in the sciences. Each $26,000 award includes a $15,000 stipend, a $5,500 research allowance, and a $5,500 allowance to the fellowship institution. In addition to these new fellowships to medical students, HHMI also announced that it would provide continued support to 14 men and 7 women who received fellowships last year, bringing the overall program to an annual level of more than $2.5 million. Five of these “continued fellows” will pursue a second year of training in research. The other 16 are returning to school to complete their medical studies and will receive a stipend and education allowance totaling $30,000 each year for up to two years. In addition to these new fellowships to medical students, HHMI also announced that it would provide continued support to seven men and six women who received fellowships last year, bringing the overall program to an annual level of more than $2.5 million. Two of these “continued fellows” will pursue a second year of training in research. The other 11 are returning to school to complete their medical studies and will receive a stipend and education allowance totaling $24,500 each year for up to two years. A medical research organization, HHMI is the nation’s largest philanthropy. It employs scientists in cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and structural biology. Hughes investigators conduct medical research in HHMI laboratories at 72 outstanding academic medical centers and universities nationwide. Through its grants program, HHMI supports science education in the United States and a select group of researchers abroad.

Cell and Developmental Biology
Name	Undergraduate Institution, Year of Graduation	Fellowship Institution
Simon R. Chan	University of Auckland (New Zealand), 1996	University of California-San Francisco
Anna Lvovna Goodman	University of Florida, 1996	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Maxwell G. Heiman	Yale University, 1997	University of California-San Francisco
Eurie Lee	Stanford University, 1996	University of Chicago
Kendall Sue Powell	College of William and Mary, 1997	University of California-San Diego
Chad Alan Rappleye	University of Utah, 1996	University of California-San Diego
Julie Hayner Simpson	Princeton University, 1995	University of California-Berkeley
Victoria Elizabeth Wang	Stanford University, 1995	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Justin Charles Yarrow	Texas A&M; University, 1995	University of California-San Diego

Genetics and Molecular Biology
Name	Undergraduate Institution, Year of Graduation	Fellowship Institution
Zachary Charles Baquet	Vassar College, 1993	University of Colorado at Boulder
Joseph John Binder	University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995	University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jennifer Ann Brisson	Kansas State University, 1997	Washington University
Wen Chen	College of New Rochelle, 1996	Harvard University
Phuongan Huu Dam	California State University-Fullerton, 1996	University of Wisconsin-Madison
Eric Hunter Ekland	Amherst College, 1994	University of California-San Francisco
Katharine Heather Eklof	Rice University, 1996	Stanford University
Rachael Louise French	University of California-Davis, 1995	University of Washington
Andrew William Grimson	University of Dublin, Trinity College (Ireland), 1997	University of Wisconsin-Madison
Charles Ray Holst	Lawrence University, 1997	University of California-San Francisco
Cynthia Louise Hughes	University of California-Berkeley, 1995	Indiana University at Bloomington
Tonia Marie Korves	Duke University, 1994	University of Chicago
Michael Travis Laub	University of California-San Diego, 1997	Stanford University
Kristie Acuna Mather	Beloit College, 1997	University of California-Berkeley
Gael-Christophe Garth McGill	Swarthmore College, 1995	Harvard University
Karen Joyce Nutt	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994	University of California-Berkeley
Lev Zalman Osherovich	University of California-Berkeley, 1997	University of California-San Francisco
Jennifer R. Powell	Hendrix College, 1997	University of California-Berkeley
Avital Adah Rodal	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997	University of California-Berkeley
Adisetyantari Suprapto	Swarthmore College, 1996	Rockefeller University
Debrah Michele Thompson	Michigan State University, 1997	Baylor College of Medicine
Matthew Tudor	Cornell University, 1995	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jing Wang	University of California-Berkeley, 1997	Harvard University
Eileen Lisa Whiteman	Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, 1996	University of Pennsylvania

Immunology and Microbiology
Name	Undergraduate Institution, Year of Graduation	Fellowship Institution
Karl Mark Ansel	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1996	University of California-San Francisco
Scott Dexter Boyd	University of Manitoba (Canada), 1992	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Benjamin Elison Gewurz	Stanford University, 1995	Harvard University
Karen So-pu Huang	Princeton University, 1997	Harvard University
Alfred Ian Lee	Stanford University, 1994	Yale University
Daniel Matthew Miller	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 1994	Ohio State University Main Campus
Gary Chai-Li Pien	Brown University, 1995	Brown University
Lauren Ilyse Richie	Yale University, 1997	Stanford University
Peter von Dassow	University of Washington, 1997	University of California-San Diego
David LeRoy Wensel	Bucknell University, 1997	Harvard University

Mathematical Biology and Epidemiology
Name	Undergraduate Institution, Year of Graduation	Fellowship Institution
Nathan Andrew Baker	University of Iowa, 1997	University of California-San Diego
Rajalakshmi Balasubramanian	Mount Holyoke College, 1996	Harvard University
Kristin L. Cobb	Dartmouth College, 1995	Stanford University
Robin DeAnne Dowell	Texas A&M; University, 1997	Washington University
Julie E. Goodman	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996	Johns Hopkins University

Neuroscience and Physiology
Name	Undergraduate Institution, Year of Graduation	Fellowship Institution
Crista Lee Barberini	University of Oregon, 1994	Stanford University
Brian Richard Bettencourt	University of Massachusetts, 1996	University of Chicago
Lisa Anne Catapano	Dartmouth College, 1992	Harvard University
Dennis Chung-Ping Chang	Queen’s University at Kingston (Canada), 1997	Harvard University
Lara Shayne Collier	University of Virginia, 1996	Stanford University
Bradley F. Dickey	Haverford College, 1996	University of Kentucky
Jennie Beth Dorman	University of California-Berkeley, 1992	University of Washington
Mark Monroe Emerson	Oberlin College, 1997	Harvard University
Ki Ann Goosens	University of Virginia, 1995	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Karen Louise Gross	University of Chicago, 1993	University of Vermont
Mark Erno Hauber	Yale University, 1996	Cornell University
Nicholas John Justice	University of California-Berkeley, 1995	University of California-San Francisco
Julie Shi-Lan Mak	Stanford University, 1995	Stanford University
Steven Andrew McCarroll	Stanford University, 1993	University of California-San Francisco
Jason Robert Meyers	Williams College, 1997	University of Virginia
Lornie James Phillips, II	University of Southern California, 1996	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Kevin Michael Pilz	Hampshire College, 1994	Cornell University
Margaret Pizer	University of Chicago, 1997	State University of New York at Stony Brook
Tenaya Megan Rodewald	University of California-Berkeley, 1997	University of California-San Diego
Samuel K. Sia	University of Alberta (Canada), 1997	Harvard University
Sen Song	University of Mississippi, 1996	Brandeis University
Richard Torres	Stanford University, 1994	Yale University
Laura Marie Wickline	University of California-San Diego, 1996	Washington University
Kristen Lee Williams	Southwest Missouri State University, 1996	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Structural Biology and Biochemistry
Name	Undergraduate Institution, Year of Graduation	Fellowship Institution
Angela DePace	Yale University, 1996	University of California-San Francisco
Gretchen Marie Ehrenkaufer	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1995	University of California-San Francisco
Rachel Megan Fry	Carleton College, 1996	University of Colorado at Boulder
Jeff E. Janes	Michigan Technological University, 1996	University of California-Berkeley
Alla Yu Karpova	University of Chicago, 1997	Harvard University
Judith Hendrike Klein	University of Cologne (Germany), 1995	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jeffrey C. Miller	California Institute of Technology, 1997	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kenneth Vincent Mills	Loyola College, 1996	Harvard University
Joseph Benjamin Rayman	Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, 1994	Harvard University
Armando Chapin Rodriguez	Duke University, 1997	University of Cambridge, Churchill College (United Kingdom)
David Thomas Rutkowski	University of Delaware, 1997	University of California-San Francisco
Joanna Aileen Weinstein	University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1997	Northwestern University
Jon Foote Wilkins	Harvard University, 1993	University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research Training Fellowships For Medical Students 1997 Fellows
Initial Awards--First Year of Research

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