Postdoctoral Drs. Ruhi Patel and Xiaolu Guo receive the M. John Pickett Award

Ruhi smiling on the left, and Xiaolu smiling on the right.
By MIMG
1 min read

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Ruhi Patel and Dr. Xiaolu Guo have been selected as this year’s recipients of the prestigious M. John Pickett Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in research and teaching by postdoctoral scholars.

Dr. Patel works with Dr. Elissa Hallem, and Dr. Guo works with Dr. Alexander Hoffmann.

Dr. Patel’s research focuses on skin penetration in the human‑parasitic nematode Strongyloides stercoralis. Skin‑penetrating parasitic nematodes infect more than half a billion people worldwide, and her work on the basic biology of these organisms may help inform the development of new therapeutic approaches. Reflecting on the award, Dr. Patel shared, “I would like to thank my postdoctoral mentor, Dr. Elissa Hallem, for her unwavering support, the Hallem Lab for an exceptional scientific environment, and the Department of MIMG for presenting me with this award.”

Dr. Guo’s research seeks to understand how macrophages mount appropriate responses to different immune threats. Disruption of these responses can contribute to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, cancer, and other pathologies. By developing knowledge‑based, single‑cell virtual signaling network models, Dr. Guo investigates the principles by which individual macrophages and macrophage populations respond to physiologically relevant stimuli. She noted, “Receiving the M. John Pickett Award is a great honor and an important milestone that further motivates me to pursue this research and broaden its impact through teaching and mentoring the next generation of scientists.”

The M. John Pickett Award honors the legacy of Dr. M. John Pickett, who served as a professor of Bacteriology at UCLA for 35 years beginning in 1947, and as Chair of the Department from 1957 to 1960. A member of the American Society for Microbiology, Dr. Pickett received the Carski Distinguished Teaching Award in 1983 and mentored 11 master’s and 23 Ph.D. students over the course of his career. Following his passing in 1998, the Pickett family established the M. John Pickett Endowment for Distinguished Teaching to recognize excellence in teaching and research. The award includes a $4,000 honorarium.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Patel and Dr. Guo on this well‑deserved recognition and their outstanding contributions to research and education.