MD/PhD Student Wins Jo Rae Wright Young Investigator of the Year Award

Anajali Jacob
Anajali Jacob

Anjali Jacob, a fourth-year MD/PhD student, is the recipient of the Jo Rae Wright Young Investigator Award from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Lung Epithelium Conference for the best trainee oral presentation.

Jacob is a graduate student at the Center for Regenerative Medicine at BUSM and Boston Medical Center. Her work involves studying incurable lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis. Her hope is to eventually screen patient-specific drugs, in patient cells before resorting to expensive clinical trials, as well as being able to regenerate lung tissue for patients who have no other therapeutic options.

Every two years, the FASEB Lung International Conference chooses 16 abstracts for presentation from those many abstracts submitted. At the end of the conference, one presenter is selected to be recognized with the Joe Rae Wright award. Joe Rae Wright, PhD, was a cell biologist and former dean of Duke Unversity’s Graduate School who believed passionately in training scientists and particularly in recruiting and retaining women in science and academic medicine.

In addition to FASEB, Jacob has presented her work at several national conferences, including the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). Upon graduation Jacobs hopes to build upon her career as a physician scientist at an academic institution with a strong commitment to rigorous science, open-source philosophy and in a compassionate training environment.

Founded in 1912, the FASEB was originally created by three independent scientific organizations to provide a forum in which to hold educational meetings, develop publications, and disseminate biological research results. Today, FASEB is recognized as the policy voice of biological and biomedical researchers.