Merigan Student Scholarship

Thomas C. Merigan, MD, Professor Emeritus of Infectious Diseases, is one of the world’s eminent virologists. In addition to pioneering research of interferon, his work produced novel treatments for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, and herpes viruses. Tom and Sue Merigan established the Sue Merigan Student Scholarship Awards to encourage undergraduates, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and other trainees to pursue a career in infectious diseases research. Candidates are nominated by their faculty mentors and chosen by a committee of Infectious Diseases faculty, and awardees are provided up to $45,000 in support of their research.

Merigan Student Scholars

Meet the 2024 Recipients

Asher Fanous – mentor Shirit Einav

Asher is a recent graduate working in the Einav Lab where studies aimed to decipher why certain individuals infected with the mosquito borne dengue virus progress to severe infection are ongoing. Asher is studying the mechanisms underlying an impairment in antigen processing and presentation in dengue infection that reduces viral clearance. The long term goal of this project is to identify candidate biomarkers predictive of severe dengue and targets for countermeasures to prevent or treat it.

Kimberly Cardenas - mentor Jason Andrews

Kimberly is an undergraduate student in the Andrews lab conducting research on Harm Reduction Initiatives Effects on Epidemic and Overdose Dynamics.  Focused on understanding the health and economic impacts of harm reduction programs across several counties, to develop a compartmental model of injection drug use and conduct a cost-benefit analysis to provide insights that could inform public health policies, particularly in light of the opioid crisis.

Nora Yang - mentor Prasanna Jagannathan

Nora is an undergraduate student in the Jagannathan lab, conducting her honors thesis on the development of trained immunity in natural malaria infections in humans. Trained immunity, the phenomenon where innate immune cells demonstrate enhanced responsiveness following an initial infection, has challenged the traditional belief that the innate immune system does not have memory. Nora combined two single-cell sequencing methods, mitoATAC and ASAP sequencing, to better understand how training occurs in malaria.

Past Recipients

2023

Arne Echterhof - Mentor: Paul Bollyky

Sarah Sackeyfio - Mentor: Julie Parsonnet