NIH MD/PhD Fellowship Award

Ashwathi (Abbee) Mohan was recently awarded the M.D./Ph.D. Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. These fellowships address the critical need for clinician scientists with both medical training and research experience to tackle the most complex problems of human health. Abbee’s grant, entitled The mechanical and biochemical mechanism of the oncogenic Rac1P29S mutation in melanoma survival signaling, will enable her to study a hyperactivating melanoma mutation in the Rac1 protein, which coordinates intracellular and extracellular signaling. Melanoma is a highly aggressive malignant cancer responsible for over 75% of all skin cancer deaths. This research will elucidate promising strategies for melanoma drug development that target mechanisms of cancer cell interaction with the surrounding environment.