Awardees & Updates – 2021

RECIPIENT: Favour Akiinjiyan, MD/PhD (candidate), 1st yr of PhD in molecular biology (2 yrs MD complete) in Medical Scientist Training Program, Washington University of St Louis.

RESEARCH: Elucidating the role of DDR2 in response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy in ovarian cancer. (Testing a target for more effective treatment of ovarian cancer).

SUMMARY: Favour wrote that she grew up in the slums of Nigeria and education was her escape. She wrote about being sick a lot and learning the importance of doctors. She plans to pursue an academic medical career in gynecologic oncology. Her mentor wrote that she is “extremely talented and passionate about women’s health research….[Favour] is one of those students in which you breathe a sigh of relief knowing that training scientists like her will certainly make our path towards curing cancer a reality.”

RECIPIENT: Lucia Borriello, PhD, post doc fellow, metastasis/intravital imaging dept of anatomy & structural biology, Albert Einstein Medical School.

RESEARCH: Mechanisms of Dissemination and Dormancy of Breast Tumor Cells

SUMMARY: Lucia is from Teramo, Italy and received her PhD in cancer biology and pharmacology with honors from the University of Paris. She is passionate about pursuing a career in research of metastatic cancers and improving health outcomes for metastatic breast cancer. Her mentor wrote “[Lucia] is an outstanding, ambitious scientist, full of motivation and commitment..to improving the health of metastatic breast cancer patients.”

RECIPIENT: (Marguerite) Indriati Hood-Pishchany MD/PhD, post-doc fellow in pediatric infectious diseases/microbiology, Boston Childrens/Harvard Medical School.

RESEARCH: Microbial and environmental determinants of community transitions in the vaginal microbiome (improving understanding of bacterial vaginosis, a common condition in women).

SUMMARY: Indriati grew up in rural Nova Scotia where she worked with sick kids and became interested in medicine. She is training to be a molecular microbiologist and plans to continue working on research of the vaginal microbiome to develop targeted solutions to gynecologic health issues especially in pregnancy outcomes, STDs, and adolescent sexual health. Her mentor wrote that Indriati “is one of the most capable scientists I have encountered…a tour de force [and a] superb physician-scientist.”

RECIPIENT: Osama Shiraz Shah

RESEARCH: Comprehensive molecular characterization of cell line models in invasive lobular breast cancer

SUMMARY: Osama is a 3rd year PhD student in integrative systems biology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. He is from Pakistan and says his inspiration comes from his parents both of whom are physicians (as is his wife). He is passionate about breast cancer research and is a skilled computer scientist who is applying his expertise in bioinformatician to work on cancer, in particular invasive lobular breast cancer, where there is a need for testing models for new treatments and the like. His mentor said he has become one of the top students in his lab and described Osama as “super bright and humble” and passionate about breast cancer research stating “he will make a lasting contribution to breast cancer research.”

RECIPIENT: Elizabeth Buss, MD, radiation/oncology resident (5th yr), NY-Presbyterian/Columbia (just began masters in bioethics at Columbia).

RESEARCH: Hypofractionated radiation treatment for patients with breast cancer receiving regional nodal irradiation. Study to see if 3-4 weeks of radiation treatment as effective as 5-7 and assessing side effect profile.

SUMMARY: Liz emphasized her patient relationship/advocacy as being primary in her motivation to improve radiation treatment for cancer patients. She is currently chief resident, was a Howard Hughes Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and graduated from Thomas Jefferson Medical School with distinction in research. Her mentor wrote that she is “brilliant, warm, driven…[with a] passion for promoting women’s health…[and is] one of the brightest residents I have mentored.”

RECIPIENT: Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Endocrine/Neuroendocrine department

SUMMARY: The Underrepresented In Academia (URIA) Visiting Scholars pilot program is intended to mentor and attract individuals from underrepresented groups to careers in endocrinology clinical practice and research. The national rates of obesity and diabetes continue to rise, especially in underrepresented populations. This coupled with a shortage of endocrinologists, especially among those from diverse backgrounds, is a crisis in the making. Mass General’s endocrine/neuroendocrine department, is internationally recognized for its excellence and thru this effort is aligned with FWW’s mission to support and encourage future physician-scientists in areas of particular concern to women such as endocrinology.