Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate Students Receive 2026-2027 Fellowships

By Julie Grisham

A gloved hand holds a petri dish
GSK students participate in a range of research projects in labs throughout MSK.

This past academic year, five PhD students and one MD/PhD student enrolled at the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK) were awarded competitive fellowships from prestigious external agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

GSK students also received a number of other internal and external fellowships.

External Fellowships

Rebecca Donahue, a first-year PhD student in the Cancer Biology program, was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Her project proposal is “Elucidating the Intersections of Cysteine Metabolism and DNA Damage.”

Mariah Lee is a fifth-year Cancer Biology student in the lab of Joseph Sun, PhD. She was awarded an NIH Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31) for her project “The Role of Arid1a in NK Cell Development and Antiviral Immunity.” 

Bailey Levin is a second-year Cancer Engineering PhD student in the lab of Kayvan Keshari, PhD. He was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for the project “Compartment-Resolved Metabolic Imaging via Diffusion-Weighted Hyperpolarized MRI.” 

Adithya Prabakaran is a third-year Cancer Engineering PhD student in the lab of Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis, PhD. His project, “Decoupling Elasticity and Viscoelastic Stress Relaxation to Probe Epithelial Dynamics in Lung Regeneration,” won an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Nora Pryor is a first-year Cancer Engineering PhD student. Her project, “Synthesis and Characterization of [MnO3]+ Core Coordination Complexes with 1,4,7-Triazacyclononane-Based Chelators,” was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Abigail Xie, PhD, is a recent GSK graduate in the MD/PhD Cancer Biology program who did her thesis research in the lab of Lydia Finley, PhD. Dr. Xie was awarded the 2026 International Birnstiel Award for Doctoral Studies in Molecular Life Sciences from the Research Institute for Molecular Pathology for her project titled “Determinants of Cellular TCA Cycle Dependency.”

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Internal Fellowships

Additionally, several students received internal fellowships made possible by GSK’s generous benefactors. This year, GSK was able to offer several new fellowships to first-year students. We are grateful to the donors who made this possible. 

Grayer Fellowship 

The Grayer Fellowship supports partial stipends for two GSK students who are entering their third year. This one-year award is given annually to recognize achieved excellence as demonstrated on a student’s thesis proposal examination. The fellowship was established by Jonathan Grayer, a former member of MSK’s Board of Overseers and Managers and the Chairman and CEO of Weld North, an investment company. This year’s recipients are:

Geoffrey Beene Graduate Student Fellowship

The Geoffrey Beene Graduate Student Fellowship provides full stipends for one year for students who work in the lab of an MSK faculty member and are conducting research with direct relevance to cancer. These fellowships are supported by the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center, which is focused on achieving major advances in controlling cancer and producing better outcomes for cancer patients, with the goal of making cancer a more manageable, and perhaps one day, more curable disease. This year’s recipients are:

Harold Varmus Fellowship

The Harold Varmus Fellowship supports the stipend of two second-year students for two years. Funded scholars also enjoy opportunities to discuss their research and academic and personal goals with Dr. Varmus, who is a Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology and former Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Varmus was also instrumental in the creation of GSK during his tenure as President of MSK from 2000 to 2010. This year’s recipients are:

Robert B. Catell Fellowship

The Robert B. Catell Fellowship supports the stipend of a GSK student for one year. Established by Robert B. Catell, former Chairman and CEO of KeySpan, the fellowship grew out of Mr. Catell’s commitment to advancing cancer research. Mr. Catell currently chairs the Advisory Board for the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University and the New York State Smart Grid Consortium. This year’s recipient is:

GSK Palestin Fellowship

The GSK Palestin Fellowship was established in 2006 by the family of Beatrice Palestin to support the stipend of a GSK student for one year. Mrs. Palestin was a New York philanthropist with a longtime interest in cancer research. This year’s recipient is:

GSK Olayan Fellowship

The GSK Olayan Fellowship supports the stipend of a GSK student for one year. It was established by The Olayan Group, a multinational corporation of more than 50 companies and affiliated businesses. The group’s Chair, Ms. Hutham Olayan, serves on MSK’s Boards of Overseers and Managers. This year’s recipients are:

Bochner-Wachenheim Fellowship

The Bochner-Wachenheim Endowed Fellowships support the stipends of five GSK students for one year. Established with a visionary gift from the Sue & Edgar Wachenheim Foundation, the fellowship grew out of the Wachenheim family’s commitment to life-changing research and educational initiatives at MSK. An investor and philanthropist, Edgar Wachenheim III is the Founder and CEO of Greenhaven Associates and President of the Sue & Edgar Wachenheim Foundation. The fellowship is named in honor of Bernard H. Bochner, MD, an Attending Surgeon and the Sir Murray F. Brennan Endowed Chair in Surgery. This year’s recipients are:

First-Year Fellowships

Established in 2026, first-year fellowships support exceptional young scientists as they begin their doctoral training at the GSK Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. These fellowships provide funding during the first three years of study, enabling recipients to pursue groundbreaking cancer research while laying the foundation for careers dedicated to advancing scientific discovery and improving patient care. 

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Fellows

The Travelers Fellow

The Merryl and Paul Siegel Fellow

The Nooyi Family Fellow

NIGMS Fellowship

In addition to the fellowships mentioned above, GSK also had a cohort of students who were awarded a fellowship from the NIGMS Basic Biomedical Sciences Research Training Program (T32) within the NIH. This program was created with a goal of developing well-trained scientists to address the nation’s biomedical research agenda. This year’s awardees are:

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