Three MD-PhD students at Vanderbilt University are among a select group of 100 women from the United States and Canada who have won P.E.O. Scholar Awards this year.
Established in 1991 by the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a philanthropic educational organization based in Des Moines, Iowa, the Scholar Awards provide merit-based grants of up to $25,000 to women pursuing doctoral degrees who demonstrate outstanding academic records and have the potential to make a meaningful impact in their fields.
The three winners were in the graduate (PhD) portion of the Vanderbilt Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), which, since it was established in 1964, has trained more than 350 physician-scientists, many of whom have gone on to leadership positions in academia, industry and the government.
The 2025 winners:
- Ansley Kunnath, PhD, who earned her doctorate in neuroscience from Vanderbilt this spring, is pursuing research aimed at improving the treatment of sensory disorders, particularly hearing loss.
- Allison Lake, PhD, who also earned her doctorate this spring, in human genetics, is investigating the influence of genetic risk, social factors that impact health, and immune biomarkers on schizophrenia and other mental health conditions.
- Atlee Witt, a third-year graduate student in chemical and physical biology, is using novel MRI imaging techniques to better understand the pathophysiology of disease in the brain and spinal cord.
“It’s truly remarkable to have three of our MSTP students selected (this year) for the P.E.O. Sisterhood Award,” said Vanderbilt MSTP Director Christopher Williams, MD, PhD. “I’m incredibly proud of them and deeply grateful that our MSTP students continue to be so competitive for this prestigious recognition.
“Their success reflects not only their individual excellence and tremendous talent, but also the strength of our training environment and the community that supports their development as physician-scientists,” said Williams, a 2002 graduate of the MSTP program and holder of the MSTP Directorship.
In an interview for Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences, Witt said she was grateful for the recognition “by an organization that uplifts, celebrates and empowers women through education, especially as education has been such a defining part of my journey as an MD-PhD candidate at Vanderbilt.”
Witt, who is from Denver, earned her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University. She is working in the lab of Seth Smith, PhD, professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, director of the Center of Human Imaging in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, and holder of the Directorship in Radiology Research.
In May, Witt received the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, an F31 (predoctoral research) grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to evaluate functional magnetic resonance imaging as a marker of neurological impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis.
She plans to defend her PhD dissertation in 2026. After she earns her MD in 2027, she hopes to match into an interventional or diagnostic radiology residency program.
Kunnath, who is from Allentown, New Jersey, earned her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University. In the labs of Mark Wallace, PhD, and René Gifford, PhD, she has studied perceptual and neural plasticity in cochlear implant users through behavioral paradigms, functional neuroimaging and pharmacological interventions.
Wallace is professor of Psychology and holder of the Louise B. McGavock Chair at Vanderbilt. Gifford currently is chief of Audiology and Research at Hearts for Hearing, a comprehensive hearing health clinic in Oklahoma City.
After completing medical school, Kunnath plans to pursue residency training in otolaryngology.
Lake, who is from St. Louis, earned her undergraduate degree from Haverford College.
She completed her dissertation, titled “Leveraging electronic health records to evaluate gene-by-environment interactions in psychiatry,” in the lab of Lea Davis, PhD, who currently is professor and scientific director of the Sinai Million Health Discoveries Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
After graduating from medical school in 2026, Lake plans to complete residency training in psychiatry, with the goal of pursuing a career as a physician-scientist in the field of precision psychiatry and genomics.
