Past Scholarship Winners
Emily Smith
2021 – 2022
Emily is a 21-year-old student scientist from Maryland whose career interests are exceptionally aligned with Dr. O’Donnell’s research. A current senior undergraduate at the University of Chicago, Emily is majoring in biology,specializing in genetics, and minoring in Latin American Studies. She is passionate about genetics and plans to pursue a career in pediatric oncology. In fact, she enjoys working with patients so much that she is also a volunteer tutor at the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital.
Natalie Reizine, MD
2019 – 2021
The Benjamin McAllister Research Fellowship in Pharmacogenomics is a uniquely specialized post-doctoral training program developed to provide the most talented young scientists critical clinical research expertise. It is a great pleasure to introduce the second named fellow, Natalie Reizine, MD.
Since 2015, Dr. Reizine has trained at the University of Chicago Medicine in multiple influential roles. Immediately following her graduation from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Dr. Reizine completed a one-year internship at UChicago Medicine, then an internal medicine residency in the Department of Medicine.
What makes Dr. Reizine’s resume even more impressive is her completion of the prestigious Maclean Center for Medical Ethics Fellowship-the oldest, largest, and most successful clinical ethics fellowship in the world.
Today, Dr. Reizine is in her second year of a rigorous hematology and oncology fellowship, and at the same time started an additional fellowship in clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenomics – led, of course, by Peter O’Donnell, MD.
Tien M. Truong Pharm. D., Ph.D.
2018 – 2020
Although her career is just getting started, Dr. Truong is already a dedicated, accomplished scientist.
After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, Dr. Truong went on to earn a Doctor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. There, she graduated Cum Laude and received the Pfizer Consumer Healthcare R&D Leading for Innovation Award, among many other accolades.
During her time at VCU, Dr. Truong conducted research, publishing findings in peer-reviewed journals, presented posters, and more.
Noura Choudhury
2017 – 2018
Noura was born in Wheaton, IL and grew up with an unusually avid interest in knitting and a love of Eggo waffles dipped in tea.
Her interest in cancer research began early, when her oncologist father encouraged her to spend a summer in high school working in the laboratory of one of his colleagues. There, she learned how to use a pipette for the first time, and hasn’t spent much time without one since then. She attended Brown University for undergraduate education and studied English literature and biology. She was selected for Phi Beta Kappa honors, graduated Magna Cum Laude and completed an honors thesis in biology. She went on to attend medical school at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
Annabel Boeke
2017 – 2018
Annabel Boeke grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. She studied history and chemistry at Bowdoin College in Maine. Following graduation, she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. There, she developed a love both for the excitement of scientific research and the mysteries of the human brain. After working in the lab, she attended the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.
CJ Christian
2017 – 2018
CJ Christian, a first-year medical student working with Dr. Peter O’Donnell, was selected as the Benjamin McAllister Research Scholar. He will be conducting research on pharmacogenomic implementation this summer.
