The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in Chevy Chase, Maryland, has announced the 2023 cohort of Hanna H. Gray Fellows.

This year’s group includes 25 postdoctoral scientists from 18 institutions across the country who will each receive up to $1.5 million for their postdoctoral training and may continue to receive funding for as many as eight years. Launched in 2016, the Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program has committed more than $180 million to increase academic faculty diversity and currently includes 189 fellows who are encouraged to follow their curiosity and study the scientific questions that matter most—changing direction as needed—for the duration of the award.

The 2023 fellows include Julia Belk, a doctoral student at Stanford University, who is focused on reprogramming immune cells to fight cancer more effectively; Ali Sina Booeshaghi at the University of California, Berkeley, who aims to produce robust genomics measurements that associate genomic variation with disease; and Katherine Deets at the University of Utah, who is studying antiviral responses in ciliates—single-celled eukaryotes that play an important role in moving nutrients throughout aquatic ecosystems.

“We are thrilled to welcome these exceptional scientists into the HHMI community,” said HHMI vice president and chief scientific officer Leslie Vosshall. “Each of this year’s Hanna Gray Fellows has the expertise, talent, and ingenuity to make groundbreaking discoveries in the life sciences while developing and inspiring generations of scientists over their career.”

For a complete list of the 2023 fellows, see the HHMI website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Sean Anthony Eddy)