Former graduate student Amira Barkal wins Weintraub Award

March 15, 2022

By Christopher Vaughan

Amira Barkal, MD, PhD, a former student in the Stanford Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Graduate Program, is one of 13 graduate students from across the nation to be given a Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award for work she did while a student in the Stanford Graduate Program in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. The prestigious award is given by the Fred Hutchinson Research Center in Seattle following a highly competitive review of graduate students from programs around the country. The award recognizes “outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences.” The work of nominated students is reviewed on the basis of quality, originality, and scientific significance.

While a Stanford graduate student in the laboratory of Institute Director Irv Weissman, MD, Barkal did research on CD24, a cell surface protein that modulates immune reactions. She is now a resident physician in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. 

“I’m thrilled to be a Weintraub awardee,” Barkal said. “I want to thank the Weintraub Award selection committee, the one-and-only Irv Weissman, and all of my mentors at Stanford and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.” 

Barkal and the 12 other awardees will be granted an honorarium and will give a talk about their work at an awards symposium in Seattle on May 6, 2022.