Robert Wardlow, a senior majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, has received a Gilliam Fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).
The goal of the Gilliam program, according to HHMI, is to increase the diversity of college and university faculty by supporting the scientists of tomorrow. Students receive $46,500 per year towards Ph.D. study for up to five years at the graduate school of their choice.
While at UMBC Wardlow worked in the lab of Terry Rogers at the University of Maryland Medical School. His research focused on heart cells and a type of stem cell called a mesenchymal stem cell. The goal of the research he says is to look at the protective properties these stem cells may have over heart cells.
For graduate school he says, he will be enrolling in a combined M.D./Ph.D. program at either Harvard or Johns Hopkins University. His current plan is to focus his clinical training in cardiology with a Ph.D. in biochemistry.
