Shan Meltzer, assistant professor of pharmacology, has been awarded the 2025 C.J. Herrick Award in Neuroanatomy from the American Association for Anatomy. The award recognizes investigators in the early stages of their careers who have made important contributions to biomedical science through their research in comparative neuroanatomy. The recognition will be formally shared in March at the Anatomy Connected 2025 conference in Portland, Oregon, and comes with a $2,000 honorarium and $1,500 in paid travel expenses.
Meltzer studies key molecular and cellular mechanisms of somatosensory circuit assembly in the brain. Somatosensory information includes touch, the first sense to develop in the human body. While somatosensory circuits have many similarities to others in the nervous system, touch is the least understood sense at the molecular and developmental level. Meltzer’s research aims to ask and answer open questions in neuroscience related to touch to reveal new ways to treat nerve injury, pain, and somatosensory dysfunctions in diseases.
“I’m honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Meltzer, who is also affiliated with the Vanderbilt Brain Institute. “This award would allow me to present my research on mammalian somatosensation development to an international audience, fostering collaborations and enhancing my growth as an early-career investigator in neuroscience.”
Meltzer completed her postdoctoral work in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School in the lab of David Ginty. She received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco, under the mentorship of Yuh Nung Jan, studying Drosophila sensory neuron development and function. She completed her undergraduate degree in biological sciences and philosophy from Peking University.
Meltzer has a long-term commitment to promoting diversity in science through teaching, mentoring, and community outreach. Meltzer was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna Gray Fellow from 2017 to 2024. She has received the UCSF Chancellor’s Award for Advancement of Women and an American Association of University Women fellowship.
The American Association for Anatomy is an international membership organization of biomedical researchers and educators specializing in the structural foundation of health and disease. AAA connects gross anatomists, neuroscientists, developmental biologists, physical anthropologists, cell biologists, physical therapists, and others to advance the anatomical sciences through research, education, and professional development.