The PhRMA Foundation awarded 34 early-career researchers a total of $2.5 million in 2025 fellowships and grants focused on drug discovery, drug delivery, and translational medicine research. (See list of awardees below.)

Faculty starter grants provide $100,000 if project support for one year. Postdoctoral fellowships provide $60,000 a year of stipend support for up to two years. Predoctoral fellowships provide $30,000 a year of stipend support for up to two years. This was the Foundation’s first year awarding predoctoral fellowships in its Translational Medicine Program.

2025 Awardees

Drug Discovery

Predoctoral Fellowships

• Bernardo Aguzzoli-Heberle, University of Kentucky
• Azlann Arnett, Baylor College of Medicine
• Jacob Capener, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Anh T.Q. Cong, MS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
• Claire Fleming, MS, University of Virginia
• Thomas Kuret, MS, Thomas Jefferson University
• Texia Loh, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
• Wei “Adelyn” Tsai, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville
• Alan Wong, Harvard Medical School
• Jingyu Zhao, MS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Postdoctoral Fellowships

• Aakriti Gangwal, MSc, PhD, Stanford School of Medicine
• Erick Rodriguez-Palma , MSc, PhD, University of Florida
• Allison Siegenfeld, MS, PhD, Harvard Medical School

Faculty Starter Grants

• Elizabeth Brunk, MSc, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Noor Momin, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

Drug Delivery

Predoctoral Fellowships

• Ameya Chaudhari, MS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Shruti Dharmaraj, MS, University of Maryland, Baltimore
• Maria Hudock, Columbia University
• Alina Ringaci, Boston University
• Madison Seefeld, University of Minnesota
• Xinyi Tu, Arizona State University

Postdoctoral Fellowships

• Shamimur Akanda, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis

Faculty Starter Grants

• Lisa Volpatti, MS, MPhil, PhD, Northwestern University
• Brittany Hartwell, PhD, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• Zhimin Huang, PhD, University of Pittsburgh

Translational Medicine

Predoctoral Fellowships

• Eleanor Agosta, Rutgers University
• Alan Ardito, Brown University
• Miao Cao, Thomas Jefferson University
• Annalisa Ferrotta, Weill Medical College of Cornell University
• Ariel Leyte-Vidal, University of Miami

Postdoctoral Fellowships

• Nathan Campbell, PhD, University of Mississippi Medical Center
• Yu-Hsiang Chen, MS, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Faculty Starter Grants

• Samagya Banskota, PhD, Boston University
• Ying Liu, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins Medicine