Chancellor's Award for Postdoctoral Research

The Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research honors the significant work of postdoctoral scholars and their mentors at UCLA in research, teaching, and public service. This year, eight awardees were chosen from 47 nominees, which includes two from our department: Dr. Ruhi Patel from Dr. Elissa Hallem’s lab and Dr. Grigor Varuzhanyan from Dr. Owen Witte’s lab.

Dr. Varuzhanyan leads a team investigating how mitochondrial metabolism affects the development of small cell neuroendocrine cancers (SCNCs), which are some of the most aggressive cancers. His findings showed that a key protein, PGC-1α, is crucial for SCNC progression and identifies weaknesses in these tough cancers. His work combines genetics and metabolism to pinpoint specific vulnerabilities in cancer cells and has earned him several prestigious awards, including recognition from the G. Harold & Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation.

Dr. Patel has developed an extremely innovative and creative research program focused on understanding how skin-penetrating, human-parasitic worms enter the body by burrowing into skin. She plans to one day start her own lab as an independent investigator at a major research university. Dr. Patel shares with us that, “I am grateful to my postdoctoral mentor, Dr. Elissa Hallem, for her unwavering support, and to the Hallem lab for providing an outstanding environment for performing research.”

Congratulations to Drs. Patel and Varuzhanyan!