Renee Donahue, a fourth-year cell and molecular biology doctoral student at the Penn State College of Medicine, has been accepted to the National Institute of Health's (NIH) annual National Graduate Student Research Festival to be held on Nov. 12 and 13.
This year's festival introduces 200 advanced graduate students to the NIH Intramural Research Program, with the aim of recruiting them for postdoctoral training at NIH. The IRP is the world's largest institution focused exclusively on biomedical research. The festival also allows the students to present their research and tour the NIH's extensive research and clinical facilities. Donahue, a student in the laboratories of Pat McLaughlin and Ian Zagon, will present her research on ovarian cancer.
The John W. Kreider Award for Research and Academic Excellence in Penn State Hershey Cell and Molecular Biology is named after John Kreider who was Division Chief of Experimental Pathology. For many years, he was the director of the Jake Gittlen Laboratory for Cancer Research and for the last 10 years before he retired he was the Director of the Jake Gittlen Cancer Institute.
The award recognizes graduates of the Graduate Program in Cell and Molecular Biology who have demonstrated excellence in research and academics as well as service to the college of medicine. The recipients receive a certificate and a cash award.
This year the Cell and Molecular Biology Steering Committee selected two recipients, Aley G. Kalapila and Hassan Zahwa.
Dr. Kalapila’s dissertation research focused on a novel pathway by which DNA repair proteins paradoxically increase damage to DNA and was completed under the direction of Dr. Anthony E. Pegg, J. Lloyd Huck Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and Evan Pugh Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology. Aley is an MD/PhD student and will carry out her residency at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Dr. Zahwa’s dissertation research, completed under the direction of Dr. Robert Bonneau, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, was focused on determining the impact of maternal psychological stress, and its associated neuroendocrine-derived peptides and hormones, on the neonatal immune response to viral infections.
Hassan holds the rank of Major in the United States Army and is currently serving as the Chief of the Ancillary Services Information Manager of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. Hassan is also engaged in a variety of teaching activities via adjunct faculty positions at both Northern Virginia Community College and South University.
Both of these graduates have already made important contributions to their respective fields and we are confident they will develop into outstanding research scientists.
