Student Achievements
Dean’s Travel Award
Congratulations to Deepa Reddy, recipient of the Dean’s Travel Award for the spring 2024 award cycle. Reddy is a PhD candidate in the Pharmacology & Physiology program. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, that is related to the student’s graduate study. In this cycle, each award was offered at the maximum of $750.00 per awardee.
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Recent Student Awards
Congratulations to the following awardees at the annual Department of Pharmacology and Physiology retreat:
- Ben Weiss Scholar Award: Xuan Luo (Ajit lab)
- Chair’s Awards: *For unique achievements in research and service* Katelyn Reeb (A. Mortensen lab) and Jason Wickman (Ajit lab)
- Mary Hoffman Shaw Travel Awards: Qiaowei Xie (Barker lab) and Ruxu Zhai (Fatatis lab)
Dean’s Travel Awards
Congratulations to Breana Channer (Gaskill lab) and Qiaowei Xie (Barker lab) for earning Dean’s Graduate Student Travel Awards! These awards are provided by Drexel’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies to support trainees attending a scientific meeting.
Discovery Day 2023
Congratulations to Bondi Fellowship recipient Xuan Luo and Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster 1st Place winner Katelyn Reeb for her project "EAATs for stroke: to modulate or not to modulate." View Discovery Day 2023 photo gallery.
Congratulations to Rhea Temmermand
Rhea (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) won the Best Poster Award at the International Congress on Neuropathic Pain (NeuPSIG2023) in Lisbon, Portugal on September 5-9, 2023.
Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research
Congratulations to Xuan Luo, who is mentored by Seena Ajit, PhD, for winning the Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research. This fellowship is designed to support PhD-track students with innovative research projects to further develop their research experience.
Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference Award
Katelyn Reeb won the Dean’s Award for Best Research Poster Presentation at the 2023 Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference. Katelyn’s award-winning poster was titled “Positive allosteric modulation of glutamate transporter EAAT2 as a novel therapeutic approach for neurological disorders.”
Dean’s Travel Award
Congratulations to Jason Wickman (mentored by Seena Ajit), winner of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.
Congratulations Katelyn Reeb
Katelyn Reeb won second prize for her poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Philadelphia chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (PCSFN).
Congratulations Deepa Reddy
Deepa Reddy won honorable mention in the category of Brain and Behavior for her poster presentation at the AAAS 2023 Student E-poster Competition.
PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery
Congratulations to Katelyn Reeb (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) for being awarded the PhRMA Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship (phrmafoundation.org/awards/past-award-recipients/2023-award-recipients) on her project entitled "Positive Allosteric Modulation of EAAT2 for the Treatment of Neurological Disorders."
Dean’s Travel Award
Congratulations to Katelyn Reeb (mentored by Andreia Mortensen) and Neha Mohan (mentored by Liang Oscar Qiang), winners of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.
Discovery Day Awards
Congratulations to the program's Discovery Day 2022 winners:
- Jonathan Snyder (Sato lab), First Place, Barry Waterhouse Outstanding Platform Presentation
- Jason Wickman (Ajit Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster
- Breana Channer (Gaskill Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Junior Graduate Student Poster
2022 Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society Meeting Awards
The 2022 MAPS Annual Meeting was held on November 4 and included a poster competition. In the graduate student poster category, Julia Farnan won first prize and Deepa Reddy won second prize. View photos from the event.
Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research
Congratulations to Xiaonan Liu, mentored by Dr. Kazuhito Toyooka, and Jason Wickman, mentored by Dr. Seena Ajit, winners of the Dean’s Fellowship for Excellence in Collaborative or Themed Research. This fellowship is designed to support PhD-track students with innovative research projects to further develop their research experience.
Dean’s Travel Award
Congratulations to Julia Farnan, winner of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.
Student Travel Award
Congratulations to Simran Gill, who received the Chapter Recognition Student Travel Award from Association for Women in Science (AWIS) to attend the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, Calif., in November 2022.
Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference Award
Rhea Temmermand won 3rd place in the in-person research poster competition of the Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars Conference. Rhea’s award-winning poster was titled “Development of Glutamate Transporter Modulators as a Novel, Non-Opioid Treatment for Neuropathic Pain.”
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Experimental Biology 2022 Award
Jason Wickman won 1st place in the graduate students and post baccalaureate students’ group in the neuropharmacology division at the Experimental Biology 2022 meeting in Philadelphia. Jason’s award-winning poster was titled “miR-106b-25 Dysregulation in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Contributes to T Cell Dysfunction.”
Rhea Temmermand Awarded American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Foundation Grant
Congratulations to Rhea Temmermand (A. Mortensen lab) for being awarded the Art Zwerling grant for her project entitled “Development of glutamate transporter modulators as a novel, non-opioid treatment for chronic pain,” funded by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Foundation.
1st Year Student Rotation Talks
Mohammed Sani Alhassan
Janssen
"The role of CD137 co-stimulation in Multiple Myeloma immune therapeutic approaches"
Simran Gill
Barker Lab
"Studying the Role of Astrocytic Gq Signaling in Stress-Induced Reinstatement"
Celina Guzman
Janssen
"Evaluating CAR-driven signaling profiles of KLK2 construct variants using Jurkat reporter cell lines"
Tofunmi Oteju
Gaskill Lab
"High Content Analysis of Dopamine Mediated Changes in HIV Infection of Macrophages"
Deepa Reddy
Ajit Lab
"Small Extracellular Vesicles From Macrophages As A Therapeutic For Post-Surgical Pain"
Dayna Robinson
Gaskill Lab
"Optimizing Culture Conditions To Investigate Dopamine’s Effect On AKT Signaling In Human Monocyte Derived Macrophages"
Sanjita Subramanian
Jackson Lab
"Exploring mitochondrial network dynamics in maturing astrocytes"
Oyende Yetunde
Fatatis Lab
"CX3CR1 re-expression and phenotypic plasticity of tumor cells"
Dean’s Travel Award
Congratulations to Xuan Luo, winner of the Dean’s Travel Award. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, or is related to the student’s graduate study.
Honors from the Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society
Congratulations to Christina Besada who won the second-place prize for her poster and Jason Wickman for being selected for an oral presentation at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society (MAPS) meeting held on October 29, 2021.
Congratulations Discovery Day 2021 Winners
- Julia Farnan (Jackson Lab), Second Place, Barry Waterhouse Outstanding Platform Presentation
- Breana Channer (Gaskill Lab), Third Place, Outstanding Junior Graduate Student Poster
Congratulations 4D Fellowship Awardees
Pharmacology & Physiology graduate program students Mohammed Sani Alhassan and Celina Guzman received Janssen-Drexel 4D fellowships for diversity in drug discovery and development.
Congratulations Katelyn Reeb
Student Katelyn Reeb was a runner-up in the Science Sketch Competition of the Philadelphia chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (PCSFN) for her submission titled, “The mechanism of allosteric modulation of glutamate transporters.” To view her entry please visit pcsfn.org.
Congratulations Discovery Day 2020 Winners
- Anthony DiNatale (Fatatis lab), Second Place, Barry Waterhouse Outstanding Platform Presentation
- Julia Farnan (Jackson Lab), Honorable Mention, Outstanding Senior Graduate Student Poster
Jared Luchetta Awarded National Research Service Award
Congratulations to Jared Luchetta (Meucci lab) for being awarded a National Research Service Award (NRSA) pre-doctoral fellow on Drexel University’s Interdisciplinary and Translational Research Training Grant in NeuroAIDS, funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Stacia Lewandowski Serves as Guest Editor
Stacia Lewandowski served as guest editor of the June 2020 newsletter of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society in the section on diverse voices – LGBTQIA+.
Stacia Lewandowski Awarded International Behavioral Neuroscience (IBNS) Travel Award
Congratulations to Stacia Lewandowski for being awarded an IBNS Travel Award for the 2020 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.