External Fellowship & Award Recipients
Zoe X. Malchiodi

Ph.D. student in Tumor Biology
2022 NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31)
“Talk to your mentor, thesis committee members, other students, and other awardees. Their feedback is so important and helpful.”
Amanda Schneeweis

Postdoctoral Associate
2022 Mistletoe Research Fellowship
“The unfettered research grant will allow me to take supplemental courses in areas I have always wanted to expand my skillset into.”
Daniel Chapman

M.D./Ph.D. in Neuroscience Program
2022 NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F30)
“I’ve always been interested in how the brain is both the architect and the consumer of the human experience.”
Shiva Hassanzadeh-Behbahani

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience
2021 NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) Award (F99/K00)
“I knew that I would receive the rigorous training required to master the scientific method in preparation for the next steps of my career.”
George Melchor

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience
2020 Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Neuroscience Scholars Program Fellow
“The community felt tight-knit in a beautiful way, and each and every day has proven to be an amazing support system – they’ve truly lifted me up.”
Nahdia Jones

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience
2020 NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) (F99/K00)
“My goal is to bridge the gap between the periphery and the CNS and to understand what specific HFD associated peripheral changes lead to CNS deficits.”
Irfan S. Khan

M.D.-Ph.D. Candidate in Interdisciplinary Tumor Biology
2019 NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F30)
“As I am going through my Ph.D., I realize that a lot of the advice [my thesis mentor] has given for experiments or in analyzing data and results can be applied to things that can happen outside of the lab.”
Sikoya M. Ashburn

Ph.D. Candidate in Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
2019 NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) F99/K00
“I hope to continue using neuroimaging methods to elucidate the cerebellum’s involvement in other developmental and learning disorders, which may then be used to improve current interventions.”
J. Vivian Dickens

M.D.-Ph.D. Candidate in Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
2019 NIDCD Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F30)
“I am excited to integrate and develop my training in linguistics, psychology, and biology in order to improve our understanding of reading, an essential skill in contemporary society.”
Allison O’Connell

M.D.-Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2019 National Cancer Institute – Ruth L. Kirschstein Diversity National Research Service Award (F30)
“[Don’t] forget faculty are on your side as well! Seek continuous feedback from your mentor, thesis committee, and other faculty in your program.”
Deanna Tiek

Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2018 NCI F99/K00 Transition Award
“My research is focused on discovering second-line treatments for the deadly brain cancer, glioblastoma (GBM). Currently, I have two drug candidates that selectively kill drug resistant brain cancer cells, and a potential biomarker for their efficacy.”
Sarah Martinez Roth

Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2018 National Cancer Institute – Ruth L. Kirschstein Diversity National Research Service Award (Diversity NRSA F31)
“Growing up I did not know anyone who was a scientist, let alone a Latinx scientist or a female scientist. Being able to have the opportunity to pursue science as a career is something that I have worked very hard for.”
Shannon White

Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2018 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
“Applying for awards is excellent training in scientific writing, promoting your background and ideas, and designing a concise and coherent research plan.”
Alana Lelo

M.D.-Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2018 Mistletoe Fellowship
“To see compounds I had helped develop enter clinical trials and actually be used in patients was so incredibly rewarding. The work that scientists do has very real and often very immediate impacts. Once I saw that first-hand, I was hooked!”
Max Kushner

Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2018 NCI funded F31 National Research Fellowship and 2018 Mistletoe Research Fellowship Recipient
“In both instances, I think it’s really important that applicants realize that they are, to some extent, participating in an exercise of salesmanship and marketing. No matter what the grant or fellowship, it is important that the application is clear, concise, and puts forward an interesting and impactful story (regardless of whether you’re discussing data for NIH funding or past work experiences for professional development).”
Kaela Singleton

Ph.D. Candidate in Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
2018 NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) Award (F99/K00) Recipient
“Truthfully, this award means quite a lot to me. My goal as a scientist and in life is to be the person I needed when I was younger. As a queer, multiracial woman of color in science, it can be incredibly isolating. So to me, this award is more than funding for the next phase my life – it’s an opportunity to train, educate and mentor students who look like me, grew up in small towns as I did, and encourage them to pursue their dreams.”
Stephen DeVito

Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2017 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Fellowship (F99/K00) Awardee
“I would also like to say thank you to my amazing family, as well as to my second family of fellow cancer researchers in the TBIO program. There is no way I would have got here without you.”
Patrick Malone

M.D.-Ph.D. Candidate in Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
2017 National Institutes of Health National Research Service (F30) Recipient
“My research interests lie at the intersection of computer science and medicine, so I built a fellowship training plan that will simultaneously develop my computational and clinical skills.”
Shady El Damaty

Ph.D. Candidate in Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
2017 National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellowship Recipient
“The stability provides intellectual emancipation, allowing me to pursue a symbiosis of traditionally disparate research fields without the background anxiety of an uncertain funding climate.”
Eric Berens

Ph.D. Candidate in Tumor Biology
2016 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Fellowship (F99/K00) Awardee
“[This fellowship] is an incredible opportunity for those fortunate to be selected — and we, the recipients, must ensure that the money invested in our training is well spent.”