The Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, which is affiliated with the University of Washington, announced eight recipients of this year’s Dr. Eddie Méndez Scholar Award. The annual awards recognize the work of exceptional early-career scientists who are studying cancer, infectious diseases, and basic sciences.
“We offer our enthusiastic congratulations to this year’s awardees, who are moving the needle forward on science that will improve lives across the world,” said Christina Termini, an assistant professor who co-directs the awards program. “Each year we choose from a competitive pool of applicants, and these recipients impressed us with their drive to make critical new discoveries with their innovative research.” Dr. Termini, who won the Dr. Eddie Méndez Scholar Award in 2020, holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of New Mexico.
The namesake award honors Dr. Eddie Méndez, a physician-scientist at Fred Hutch who died of cancer in 2018. A specialist in head and neck cancers, Dr. Méndez worked to save as many patients as possible and aimed to minimize negative side effects of cancer treatments. Born in Puerto Rico, he completed his residency at the University of Washington and joined Fred Hutch in 2000. He spent his career spearheading robotic surgery for head and neck tumors and was the first provider in Washington to perform the surgery.
Five of the eight recipients of this year’s Dr. Eddie Méndez Scholar Award are women.
Rachael Chanin is a postdoctoral researcher in hematology at Stanford University in California. Her doctoral work focused on understanding the causes of commensal facultative anaerobic outgrowth during episodes of intestinal inflammation. Her current research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that drive bacterial community structure changes in the gut. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Amy C. Fan is a postdoctoral researcher in pathology at the University of California, San Francisco. Her work uses live imaging, cytometry, and proteomics to understand how sampling shapes immune responses at homeostasis and disease settings, such as cancer, autoimmunity, and infection. Dr. Fan is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in immunology from Stanford University.
Simone Park is a postdoctoral fellow in immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research investigates how immune cells known as T cells fight cancer and pathogens using a variety of cutting-edge scientific technologies, in vivo models, and imaging approaches. Dr. Park holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Carolina Rodriguez Tirado is a postdoctoral researcher in microbiology and immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in The Bronx, New York. A native of Santiago, Chile, Dr. Rodriguez Tirado specializes in cancer dormancy, studying how cancer cells escape a primary tumor and hibernate in distant body parts, only to awaken years or even decades later to seed new metastatic tumors. She holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Madeline Rollins is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago. Her research explores the cellular mechanisms that control protein synthesis and quality control, particularly in the context of viral infection. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and biochemistry and a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Northwestern University in Illinois.