Kellie A. Jurado, PhD, Presidential Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Colin Conine, PhD, an assistant professor of Pediatrics and Genetics, and Liling Wan, PhD, an assistant professor of Cancer Biology
PHILADELPHIA— The Pew Charitable Trusts named Kellie A. Jurado, PhD, Presidential Assistant Professor of Microbiology, and Colin Conine, PhD, an assistant professor of Pediatrics and Genetics, both in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, as two of 22 early-career researchers nationwide selected as 2021 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust have also selected Liling Wan, PhD, an assistant professor of Cancer Biology, to join four other researchers in the U.S. as the 2021 class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research.
The 2021 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences were chosen from 198 applicants nominated by leading academic institutions and researchers across the United States. These scientists will receive funding over the next four years as they investigate timely questions surrounding human health and disease. Conine will investigate how regulatory RNAs carried by sperm influence embryonic development and offspring phenotype. Jurado will examine how cells in the placenta protect an embryo from being rejected by the maternal immune system.
The five early-career scholars who comprise the 2021 class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research will each receive a four-year grant to advance cutting-edge research into the development, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. This is the eighth year that the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust has partnered with Pew to support researchers as they investigate breakthroughs to advance treatments and cures for the complex disease. Wan will investigate how assemblies of proteins come together to regulate the expression of genes and how dysregulation of this process contributes to cancer.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.