Twenty UCSF graduate and medical students have been awarded fellowships by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for advanced training in biomedical research. They are among 166 of some of the world’s most promising young scientists to receive the awards, which were announced recently by the Institute.

1997 Predoctoral Fellowships in Biological Sciences were awarded to the following UCSF graduate students:

• Cell and Developmental Biology -- Simon R. Chan, Maxwell G. Heiman, and Justin Charles Yarrow;

• Genetics and Molecular Biology -- Eric Hunter Ekland, Charles Ray Holst, Lev Zalman Osherovich;

• Immunology and Microbiology -- Karl Mark Ansel;

• Neuroscience and Physiology -- Nicholas John Justice, Steven Andrew McCarroll, Angela DePace, Gretchen Marie Ehrenkaufer, David Thomas Rutkowski.

The predocotoral fellowships support students for up to five years while they pursue a PhD. Each award includes an annual stipend of $15,000 and a $15,000 cost-of-education allowance that goes to the fellowship institution.

1997 Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students, which allow students to conduct biomedical research full time in a laboratory of their choice, went to the following from UCSF. (Their faculty mentors are also listed.)

• Mohan Nallicheri Viswanathan (Joseph M. McCune, MD, PhD, department of medicine)

• Frederick Yuh Huang (Lennart Mucke, MD, neurology)

• Anita Ann Koshy (Donna M. Ferriero, MD, neurology)

Each medical student award includes a $15,000 stipend, a $5,500 research allowance, and $5,500 to the fellowship institution.

In addition to the new fellowships the following students in genetics and molecular biology received “continued awards” for a second year of research:

• Asim Aminshariff Ahmed (Y.W. Kan, MD, laboratory medicine), Ron Alexander Birnbaum (Kevin A. Shannon, MD, pediatrics), Tracey Michelle Hessel (Deborah Dean, MD, medicine).

• Medical student Patty Peng-Jung Chi received a “continued award” to support completion of medical studies.

A medical research organization, HHMI is the nation's largest philanthropy. It employs scientists in cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and structural biology. Hughes investigators conduct medical research in HHMI laboratories at 72 academic medical centers and universities nationwide. HHMI now supports 475 students at 67 academic institutions through the fellowship programs. Altogether, HHMI has provided $115 million in fellowship support since 1988 to 1,600 outstanding students and physician-scientists.

1st appeared 7/31/97