Chancellor's Award Winners

In recognition of a graduating student who embodies the ideals of the biomedical research scientist through outstanding doctoral research, leadership and service to the UMass Chan Community.

2025

Xuhang Li
Systems-Level Principles of Metabolic Wiring and Rewiring
Mentor:  Marian Walhout, PhD

2024

Eric Romo
The Influence of Spatial Proximity to Syringe Services Programs and Secondary Syringe Exchange on HCV Risk among Rural People Who Inject Drugs
Mentor: Peter Friedman, MD, MPH, DFASAM, FACP

2023

Christine Carbone
Time-resolved and Ensemble cryo-EM studies of translation elongation and ribosome rescue
Mentor:  Andrei Korostelev, PhD

2022

Daniel Hidalgo
Novel Functions of the Erythropoietin Receptor
Mentor: Merav Socolovsky, MD, PhD

2021

Heather Loring
Insights into the Role of SARM1 in Pathological Neuron Death
Mentor: Paul Thompson, PhD

2020

Ashley Matthew
Targeting Drug Resistance in HCV NS3/4A Protease:  Mechanisms and Inhibitor Design Strategies
Mentor: Celia Schiffer, PhD

2019

Julia Alterman
A CNS-Active siRNA Chemical Scaffold for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Mentor:  Anastasia Khvorova, PhD

2018

Nomeda Girnius
The cJUN NH2-terminal Kinase Pathway in Mammary Gland Biology and Carcinogenesis
Mentor: Roger Davis, PhD

2017

Kasmir Ramo
Jun Kinases in Hematopoiesis, and Vascular Development and Function
Mentor: Roger Davis, PhD 

2016

Emma Watson
Diet-Responsive Gene Networks Rewire Metabolism in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to Provide Robustness Against Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Mentor: Marian Walhout, PhD

2015                                                                                                   

Bo Han
Using Experimental and Computational Strategies to Understand the Biogenesis of microRNAs and piRNAs
Mentor: Phillip Zamore, PhD