To honor your daughter’s memory and service to others, you established the Kelly Woodard Memorial Leadership Award in December 2003 with an initial gift of $10,000. This award continues to help trainees realize their dreams of becoming doctors and experts in molecular virology and microbiology. Initially, the endowment supported an annual graduate student award for leadership in research, scholarship and community service, which expanded to postdoctoral trainees in 2014.
Since its establishment, the award has grown to $89,000 and has supported 18 graduate students and 7 postdoctoral trainees on their medical school journeys and training. These awardees have demonstrated outstanding achievements in scholarship, research and leadership in the biological sciences. They must also show promise for future substantial contributions to research.
Kelly’s mentor and administrator of the award, Susan Marriott, Ph.D., along with past award recipients Drs. Ana Maria Cardenas, Christopher Stewart, Tyler Sharp and Kristen Engevik, wanted to share updates on the impact of the endowment with you.
Heather Winter, Ph.D. ’07
Director, Physician Services, Inova Health System
Victor Keasler, IV, Ph.D. ’07
Scientist and Project Manager, SeqWright, Inc.
Thuy-Ai Nguyen, Ph.D. ’10
Principal Scientist, Shattuck Labs
Tyler Sharp, Ph.D. ’10
Epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Rafael Cubas, Ph.D. ’10
Director, Immunology, Oncology and Cell Therapy Innovation, Takeda
Sue Crawford, Ph.D. ’13
Assistant Professor, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Ana Maria Cardenas, Ph.D. ’12
Senior Director, Global Medical Affairs – Integrated Diagnostic Solutions, BD
Erin Honsa, Ph.D. ’12
Assistant Professor, Biology, Rhodes College
Christopher Nobles, Ph.D. ’14
Associate Director, Computational Biology and Multi-Cancer Early Detection, Exact Sciences
Lisa Atkins Matz, Ph.D. ’17
Postdoctoral Research Associate, The University of Texas Medical Branch
Mary Girard Evangelista, Ph.D. ’16
Flow Cytometry Account Manager, Sysmex America, Inc.
Austen Terwilliger, Ph.D. ’17
Director of Operations, TAILOR, Baylor College of Medicine
Anisha Misra, Ph.D. ’18
Medical Director, Mycology and Parasitology, Cleveland Clinic
Anubama Rajan, Ph.D. ’19
Postdoctoral Associate, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Jennifer Clinton, Ph.D. ’20
Postdoctoral Associate, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Miranda Lewis
Ph.D. Student, Baylor College of Medicine
Vicki Mercado
M.D./Ph.D. Student, Baylor College of Medicine
J. Thomas Gebert
McNair M.D./Ph.D. Scholar, Baylor College of Medicine
Sasirekha Ramani, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Training, Baylor College of Medicine
Assistant Professor, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Christopher Stewart, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Training, Baylor College of Medicine
Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Fellow and Lister Institute Prize Fellow, Newcastle University
Nina Poole-Scott, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Training, Baylor College of Medicine
Medical Laboratory Scientist and Microbiologist, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center
Heather Danhof, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Training, Baylor College of Medicine
Assistant Professor, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Adrien Assie, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate, Baylor College of Medicine
Victoria Tenge, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate, Baylor College of Medicine
Kristen Engevik, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate, Baylor College of Medicine
