PREP alumna, Yessica Santana Agreda, was recently named a 2023 Lacroute Fellow. The Lacroute Fellows Program invests in School of Medicine graduate education by supporting exceptional students performing innovative research in the Vollum/OHSU Neuroscience Graduate Program. These 1-year fellowships cover $24,000 of the student’s stipend and provide an allowance of $1,000 for related expenses, such as attending scientific conferences or courses.

"Receiving the Lacroute Fellowship is an extraordinary honor and a moment of immense joy and gratitude," said Santana Agreda. "It is a validation of my dedication to the neurodevelopment field and a recognition of my potential to make meaningful contributions to the scientific community. This award fills me with a sense of excitement and motivation to continue pursuing my passion for scientific research, knowing that I have the support and recognition of the esteemed Ronni Lacroute behind me. I am deeply humbled and inspired by this opportunity, and I eagerly anticipate the possibilities and opportunities that this fellowship will provide for my scientific career."

Yessica is currently a 3rd year Neuroscience Ph.D. Candidate continuing her dissertation work in the Wright Lab where she studies how transcription factors give rise to neuronal cell fate by using the retina as a model system.

Congratulations to Yessica and all the 2023 Lacroute Fellows!

Joselinne Medrano presented a poster of her postbaccalaureate work at a national meeting this past June. The 45^thAnnual Research Society on Alcoholism conference took place in Orlando, Florida. Her PI is Dr. Angela Ozburn. Joselinne is soon to begin her first year in the OHSU Neuroscience Graduate Program.

OHSU PREP mentor, Marc Freeman, director and senior scientist in the OHSU Vollum Institute, is one of six award winners of the Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship across the country in 2022. 

The Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is a trainee-nominated award that comes with $100,000 to support continuing efforts to foster the career advancement of early-career scientists.

Read the press release at OHSU News.

PREP Alumnus, Rachel De La Torre, received the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Rachel is in her third year of the Neuroscience Graduate Program. The NRSA will fund her dissertation work. Congratulations, Rachel!

Congratulations to Yessica Santana Agreda for receiving an Honorable Mention for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship! Yessica is a second-year doctoral student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, and was part of the second cohort of OHSU's Neuroscience Post-Baccalaureate Initiative (NPBI). Read the full announcement at OHSU Now.

Current PREP Scholar, Tony Munoz, presented at Satuday Academy's Spring Discovery Event on April 7th, 2022. He spoke about his journey as a postbacc and getting into multiple Ph.D. programs. Thanks for inspiring future STEAM leaders, Tony!

Congratulations to all of our 2021 OHSU PREP scholars who applied to graduate school and received interviews! Our scholars received interviews at the following institutions: Oregon Health & Science University, University of California Irvine, University of Pittsburg, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Texas Health Science Center, University of Maryland, University of Colorado Denver (Anschutz Medical Campus), and University of Texas (Austin)

Congratulations to Dennisha P. King for publishing her worked completed when she was an OHSU PREP (formally NPBI) scholar! Dennisha was part of the 2019 postbac cohort. Her research article is entitled "Phosphorylation of the aggregate-forming protein alpha-synuclein on serine-129 inhibits its DNA-bending properties". You can read her article on the Journal of Biological Chemistry website.  

Congratulations to Assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology and OHSU PREP Faculty mentor, Fikadu Tafesse, Ph.D., on receiving the Faculty Excellence and Innovation Award! This award is for researchers who have been recognized for exceptionally innovative research that promises to make significant contributions to their fields. Read the press release at OHSU News

Congratulations to Vollum Institute assistant scientist and OHSU PREP Faculty mentor, Swetha Murthy, Ph.D., on receiving an NIH Director's New Innovator Award! The award supports exceptionally creative early career investigators who propose innovative, high-impact projects in the biomedical, behavioral or social sciences within the National Institutes of Health mission. Read the press release at OHSU News

Congratulations to Yessica Santana Agreda on being named as one of the SfN Neuroscience Scholars Program Fellows for 2021–23. Yessica is a doctoral student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at OHSU and OHSU PREP (formally NPBI) 2019 scholar alum! Read more about the Neuroscience Scholars Program!