Anna Kirillova, a member of Stephen Chan’s lab in the Vascular Medicine Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, has won the first place Early Career Investigator Award from the American Heart Association’s Council on Genomic and Precision Medicine (GPM). This award recognizes her exceptional research paper and presentation, which stood out in a highly competitive internal field.
The GPM Early Career Investigator Award is given for outstanding research in basic science, population science, genetic epidemiology, clinical genetics and translational biology.
Kirillova is a student in the dual degree MD/PhD program at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, pursuing her PhD in integrative systems biology. Her research is focused on cardiovascular medicine, specifically group 2 pulmonary hypertension and the generation of patient-specific models of cardiomyopathies, a group of diseases that affect heart muscle and the heart’s ability to pump blood.
This award is a testament to Kirillova’s dedication and hard work as it marks her second award in the Chan lab. This is the fourth prestigious international award won by the lab’s MSTP/PSTP students, continuing a trend of remarkable achievements that highlight the strong mentorship and innovative research at the University of Pittsburgh.