Vanderbilt University graduate student Mary Oliver and her adviser, Julia Bohannon, PhD, have been named to the 2024 cohort of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellows Program in recognition of “their outstanding research and commitments to advancing equity and inclusion in science.”
They are among 50 graduate student-adviser pairs — two of whom are from Tennessee — named this year. The program provides $53,000 in annual support for each student’s dissertation research for up to three years.
Oliver, a graduate student in Molecular Pathology & Immunology, is working with Bohannon, associate professor of Anesthesiology and of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at VUMC, on ways to modulate innate immunity, the body’s first line of defense against infection, to prevent infection and sepsis in patients with severe burn injuries.
“This is truly an amazing opportunity,” Oliver said. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to not only be connected to equally talented and like-minded peers as a Gilliam fellow, but the opportunity to work alongside my mentor to advance our field of research with the support of the program.”
The other Tennessee fellow, Déja Grant, is a graduate student in Cancer Biology at Meharry Medical College who is working in the lab of her adviser, Rachelle Johnson, PhD, associate professor of Medicine at VUMC and program director/director of Graduate Studies for Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt University.
“I am super excited and blessed to be selected as a 2014 Gilliam fellow,” Grant said, “and I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the Gilliam cohort.”
Johnson said the fellowship will support Grant’s research into mechanisms of bone metastatic breast cancer progression through spatial profiling of the metastatic niche.
“The emphasis on the mentor-mentee pair is truly unique,” she said. “I look forward to working with Déja to determine how intracrine signaling pathways disrupt the niche to promote outgrowth of dormant tumor cells in the bone marrow and seeing all that Déja will accomplish through her Gilliam fellowship.”
“Mary and I are incredibly honored to be recognized by the HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program,” Bohannon said. “Not only have Mary and I both overcome numerous challenges due to inequities in education and science, but our work also addresses a critical issue that affects a diverse population.
“Burn-related deaths are seven to 11 times higher in low-income compared to high-income communities, leading to disparities in care and treatment,” she said. “Further, some racial and ethnic groups experience greater impacts in terms of scarring, infection and therapy outcomes after burn. I look forward to continuing working with Mary to break down barriers in scientific research and improve treatments for underserved communities.”
HHMI, the nation’s largest private biomedical research institution, created the Gilliam Fellows Program in 2004 to nurture excellence and diversity in science and in recognition of the importance of mentorship in developing tomorrow’s scientific leaders.
Fellows are offered leadership training, professional development and opportunities to engage with and learn from peers, program alumni and HHMI scientists. Their advisers participate in an intensive, one-year mentorship skills development course and receive support to promote inclusive graduate training environments at their home institutions.
This year HHMI’s Center for the Advancement of Science Leadership and Culture, which administers the program, received applications from a record-breaking 162 institutions across the country. Including this year’s fellows, who represent 43 institutions, the Gilliam community now consists of 501 scientists, including those who subsequently have earned their doctorates.
“This year’s Gilliam Fellows and their advisers are not only working at the cutting edge of scientific discovery, but they’re also forging new pathways for others to do the same,” Blanton Tolbert, PhD, HHMI’s vice president of science leadership and culture, said in a news release.
“Together, these brilliant minds represent the future of science — a future in which individuals of diverse backgrounds and experiences come together to move science forward for the betterment of all,” Tolbert said.
While Grant is the first Meharry graduate student to be named a Gilliam Fellow, this is the second time her adviser has been recognized by the program.
Johnson and then-graduate student Tolu Omokehinde were among three student-adviser pairs from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine named to the program in 2018. Omokehinde earned his PhD in 2021 and currently is a senior scientist at Pfizer.
Three graduate student-adviser pairs from Vanderbilt were among the Gilliam program’s 2019 cohort; one pair was selected in 2020, 2021 and 2022; and two pairs were recognized in 2023.
