Elizabeth Rossin, MD, PhD, a second-year ophthalmology resident at Harvard Medical School, was selected to receive the inaugural Gragoudas-Folkman Award, which provides up to $20,000 each year to support a resident research project. Anthony Adamis, MD, a Mass. Eye and Ear alumnus and Global Head of Ophthalmology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Genentech/Roche, established the award in 2016 using his portion of the proceeds from the 2014 António Champalimaud Vision Award.
“As an alumnus of Harvard Ophthalmology, it gives me great pleasure to offer support to a trainee through this award,” said Dr. Adamis. “Trainees such as Dr. Rossin are the future leaders in the field of Ophthalmology and fuel innovation through their research.”
Dr. Rossin and collaborators have already developed a novel network-based algorithm to guide the rational design of vaccines against organisms such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV). With support from this award, she will be able to complete her network analysis of the HIV proteome and perform network analysis of the HSV proteome. Additionally, she will work under the mentorship of James Chodosh, MD, MPH, an international leader in corneal disease, molecular virology, viral genomics, and viral epidemiology, to perform a network analysis of the HSV proteome to uncover new viral vaccine targets that may lead to improved vaccines.
A graduate of University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Rossin earned her MD and PhD from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. During her PhD, she worked under Mark Daly, PhD, studying the integration of genetics with protein-protein interaction network analysis. She is the creator and host of the Broad Institute’s website for DAPPLE: Disease Association Protein-Protein Link Evaluator which is used to merge genetic information with large protein-protein interaction network databases to help researchers interpret genetic associations. During medical school, she worked with Janey Wiggs, MD, PhD, Mass. Eye and Ear, to conduct genetic sequencing in patients with Topamax-induced angle-closure glaucoma.
The application deadline for the 2017 Gragoudas-Folkman Award is April 1, 2017. First-year residents may apply by submitting a short proposal and letter from their sponsors to Charles Ruberto in Ophthalmology Education. Award recipients will be selected by a committee to be designated by the Chief of Ophthalmology, and will be announced by June 30, 2017.