Researcher Stories
Get to know the PhRMA Foundation’s award recipients.
Combining Strategies to Stop Cancer Growth
Masuda Akther, a PhD candidate at Rutgers University, is developing a combination therapy designed to target two vulnerabilities of cancer cells.
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From Center Stage to the Neuroscience Lab
Abigail Schwarz, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is researching a psychedelic-like compound for the treatment of chronic pain and opioid use disorder.
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Striking the Spark to Advance Cancer Drug Delivery
Bojing Jiang, a PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis, received a 2026 PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Delivery for her work developing precise and safe drug-based delivery platforms for cancer treatment.
Read MoreDesigning a ‘Superhero Bacteria’ to Relieve Gut Stress
Gracelyn Richmond, a fifth-year PhD candidate at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, aims to create therapeutic products that could improve gastrointestinal symptoms by leveraging bacterial interactions in the gut microbiome.
Awardee Spotlight
Mark T. Milner, PhD
- University of Michigan
“I am absolutely delighted to have been selected for the 2026 PhRMA Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Medicine. This award is an essential step in building towards my independent research career of translating my work into clinic, to ultimately prevent and treat neurological diseases.”
Developing a Platform for Personalized Cancer Vaccines
Xinyi Tu, a PhD student at Arizona State University, is developing a cancer vaccine platform that uses nanoparticles to deliver vaccine ingredients to the immune system.