Accolade Corner
The hard work of the faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students who conduct basic biomedical research at Vanderbilt continues to be recognized on the local and national level. Here we list a few of the researchers whose work has been recently recognized.
Erin Calipari (Pharmacology) received a 2023 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology for her work in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience.
Larry Marnett (Biochemistry) and Thao Le (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Julio Ayala lab) were among those honored at the inaugural Graduate School Honors Banquet. Marnett received the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award and Le received the Excellence in Leadership Award.
Veronika Kondev (Neuroscience, Sachin Patel and Brad Grueter labs) and Ayesha Muhammed (Human Genetics, Dan Roden lab) were named the 2023 Founder’s Medalists for the Graduate School and the School of Medicine, respectively.
Neil Osheroff (Biochemistry) was the opening keynote speaker at the APMEC 2023 and received the Mentoring, Innovation, and Leadership in Educational Scholarship Award. He was also this year’s recipient of the AAMC Alpha Omega Alpha Glaser Award.
Deronisha Arceneaux (Cell and Developmental Biology, Ken Lau lab) and Kimberlyn Ellis (Human Genetics, Lea Davis lab) were named HHMI Gilliam Fellows.
Yasminye Pettway (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Alvin Powers lab) was selected as the 2023 Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar.
The 2023 recipients of the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Graduate Studies, their programs, and their mentors are:
- Brooke Christensen, Neuroscience. Advised by Erin Calipari.
- Steven Wall, Microbe-Host Interactions. Advised by Ivelin Georgiev.
- Matthew O’Neill, Human Genetics. Advised by Dr. Dan Roden.
- Jenny Tran, Biochemistry. Advised by Breann Brown.
- Tara Mack, Human Genetics. Advised by Dr. Alexander Bick and Lea Davis.
- Marianne Casilio, Hearing and Speech Sciences. Advised by Stephen Wilson (University of Queensland).
- Marina Hanna, Neuroscience. Advised by Vivian Gama.
- Allison Lake, Human Genetics. Advised by Lea Davis.
- Margret Fye, Cell and Developmental Biology. Advised by Irina Kaverina.
- Kirsty Erickson, Neuroscience. Advised by Cody Siciliano.
Rafael Arrojo e Drigo (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics) received the Robert L. Sorenson Young Investigator Award from the Midwest Islet Club.
The W. M. Keck Foundation Board of Directors awarded a three-year, $1.2 million grant to Chuck Sanders (Biochemistry) and Roy Zent (Medicine) for a project titled “Genetic Intolerance Patterns as a Treasure Map to Genes that Define Us as Human.”
Snigdha Mukerjee
(Cody Siciliano lab) was awarded a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.
JooEun Kang, MD/PhD’23, received the Somerfeld-Ziskind Research Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry for a first author paper that she wrote in the Ruderfer lab, “Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors.”
Neil Dani (Cell and Developmental Biology) was named a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar. This prestigious grant program supports early-career biomedical scientists conducting innovative research.
Ayaka Sugiura (Microbe-Host Interactions, Jeff Rathmell lab) and Camille Wang (Neuroscience, Lisa Monteggia and Ege Kavalali labs), aspiring physician-scientists, are among the 2023 recipients of highly competitive P.E.O. Scholar Awards.
Emily Hodges (Biochemistry) and Cody Siciliano (Pharmacology) were selected as 2023 Dean’s Faculty Fellows of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences. This award recognizes early-career faculty members with impressive records of scientific accomplishments.
Darian Carroll Thomas (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Maureen Gannon lab) and Jordyn Barr (Biological Sciences, Julián Hillyer lab) were among the five graduate students selected as the 2023–24 SEC Emerging Scholars.
James O’Connor, PhD’22, received the 2023 Larry Sandler Award from the Genetics Society of America. This international award is presented to a recent graduate with the best Ph.D. dissertation on Drosophila.
Jessica Thomas (Roger Colbran lab) received the 2023 Henry Grass Rising Stars in Neuroscience Award from the Grass Foundation.
Ronald Emeson (Pharmacology) received the 2022 Innovation Award from the International Rett Syndrome Foundation.
Loic Fort (Ian Macara lab) was named a fellow in Development’s inaugural Pathway to Independence program.
Juan Carvajal García (Houra Merrikh lab) received a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
Mariana Byndloss (Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology) was selected as a Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2023 Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease.
Zer Vue (Antentor Hinton Jr. lab) received the 2023 M&M Postdoctoral Scholar Award, sponsored by the Microscopy Society of America.
Class Notes
Hey, graduate and postdoc alumni!
Have something to share with us, such as a personal or professional accomplishment? Visit https://redcap.link/BasicSciencesClassNotes and tell us about it. We’ll give you a shoutout in our next issue.
Christina Keeton, PhD’12 (Biochemistry), recently became the associate director of graduate and postdoctoral scholar coaching and engagement at the Vanderbilt University Career Center.
Chuck Herring, PhD’18 (Cell and Developmental Biology), was recently named winner of the Emma Whitelaw ECR Publication Award, an award for early-career researchers.
Aparna Shekar, PhD’19 (Pharmacology), recently became the director of therapeutic strategy (Neuroscience) at Novartis.
Elizabeth Gibson, PhD’19 (Pharmacology), was promoted from to associate director in the Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacometrics, and Bioanalysis group at Bristol Myers Squibb.
Tyler Perfitt, PhD’20 (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics), recently started a new position as scientist I in neuroscience biology at Atalanta Therapeutics in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jordyn Wilcox, PhD’21 (Neuroscience), Fellow’22, recently became an assistant teaching professor at the University of Notre Dame. She teaches undergraduates in psychology and neuroscience, contributing to the neuroscience and behavior major.
Heather Caslin, Fellow’23, became an assistant professor of health and human performance at the University of Houston this fall.
Erin Green, Fellow’23, became an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Chicago this summer.
Tyler Hansen, PhD’23 (Biochemistry), is a postdoctoral fellow with Luis Barreiro at the University of Chicago.
Kavi Mehta, Fellow’23, is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as of this summer.
Bradley Reinfeld, MD/PhD’23 (Cancer Biology), is completing his internal residency training at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He seeks to become a physician-scientist studying the metabolic milieu of kidney cancer to ultimately find better treatment combinations.