Researcher Stories
Get to know the PhRMA Foundation’s award recipients.
Turning Serendipity Into Scientific Breakthroughs
Dr. David Nie of Yale University received a 2026 PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery for his research that aims to rewire specific proteins to turn on a cell’s cancer-fighting genes.
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Following Her Passion for Drug Discovery, One Puzzle Piece at a Time
Kelly O’Rourke, a PhD student at Vanderbilt University, aims to uncover how a key protein helps protect the brain’s dopamine-producing cells, with the goal of finding new treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
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Designing Better Tuberculosis Medicines for the Patients Who Need Them Most
Dr. Sichen Song, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, aims to make tuberculosis treatment easier and more effective by creating medicines that are easier to store, better absorbed by the body, and require fewer pills for patients to take.
Read MoreUsing AI and Skin Cells to Advance Precision Medicine for ALS
Zizheng Li, a fifth-year PhD student at the University of California, San Francisco, is using an unconventional approach to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease.
Awardee Spotlight
Emeka (Elvis) Duru
- University of Utah
“I am deeply honored to receive the PhRMA Foundation grant. As a pharmacist who has witnessed patients forgo medications they couldn’t afford, this fellowship supports my research on insurance barriers to obesity pharmacotherapy and my commitment to making life-changing treatments accessible to all.”
Measuring Brain Activity to Improve Concussion Diagnosis
Dr. Taotao Wu, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia, aims to develop a more objective way to measure how the brain is functioning after a concussion.