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Keywords: student spotlight, TiME, honors and awards
One of the strategic objectives of the Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) is to train and empower the next generation of cancer researchers. The CCIL does this through numerous student programs, beginning in middle school and moving all the way to post-doctoral research scholars. One of those instrumental educational components is the Tissue Microenvironment (TiME) program, a university-wide training program for graduate students with intensive mentoring and systematic activities focused on professional development. The program aims to empower TiME trainees to become the next generation of interdisciplinary leaders capable of undertaking fundamental research and enabling translational advances.
The CCIL is pleased to honor one of these next generation scholars, who is receiving national acclaim for her research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). TiME alumna Parinaz Fathi was recently named to the elite group of Forbes “30 Under 30” Scientists.
Parinaz Fathi received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is a graduate of the CCIL’s TiME Program.
Forbes selected Fathi for her role in developing “VIPER,” a powerful tool that can predict survival in patients by identifying critical biomarkers linked to traumatic injuries. Now, Fathi is building tools to understand why the immune system sometimes attacks healthy tissues or ignores cancer cells, a crucial step in developing therapies for these conditions.
Fathi completed her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2020, and now works an independent research scholar (PI) at the NIH, where she leads the Unit for NanoEngineering and MicroPhysiological Systems (UNEMPS). The unit is developing organ-on-a-chip models of immune-related conditions and evaluating the role of biological nanoparticles in autoimmune diseases and cancer.
Congratulations, Parinaz!