By Deborah Wormser

Mariam El-Ashmawy, an M.D./Ph.D. student at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has received an American Fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to help complete her dissertation in cell biology.

Mariam El-Ashmawy
Photo by Christopher McBrown

Ms. El-Ashmawy, who works in the laboratory of Drs. Jerry Shay and Woodring Wright, both Professors of Cell Biology, is one of 241 AAUW awardees for 2015–2016.

“Being awarded the AAUW fellowship is such an exciting honor,” she said. “I’m now part of this community of remarkable women scholars who share the same goals and motivations. Here at UT Southwestern, I have exquisite support from my mentor, Dr. Jerry Shay, who pushes me to think independently and keeps me excited about the scientific process even when things start to get tough.”

Ms. El-Ashmawy said she will use the $20,000 award to complete her dissertation on strategies to protect healthy cells from the negative effects of radiation therapy for lung cancer. The project required her to characterize radioprotective compounds and study their effects on both normal and cancerous cells.

The AAUW’s American Fellowships – the association’s oldest and largest funding program – were established in 1888 and support women scholars who are completing doctoral dissertations, conducting postdoctoral research, or finishing research for publication.

Ms. El-Ashmawy’s goal in becoming a physician-scientist is to combine clinical medicine, research, and teaching so that she can directly impact patients, improve treatments through her research, and serve as a role model, she said.

“Being a woman is secondary to being a good person, good scientist, and effective communicator. It is not just women who can benefit from interacting with a strong, successful female,” she said. “I hope that by simply existing and thriving as a female minority in medicine and science I will lead those around me by example. Eventually, I aim to become a teacher and mentor, supporting, educating, and encouraging students to become effective scientists.”

Ms. El-Ashmawy, born in Lewisville, is the daughter of Egyptian immigrants. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2008 before entering UT Southwestern’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). Students enrolled in the highly integrative program receive both hands-on clinical experience and laboratory research training. Upon completion, students earn an M.D. from UT Southwestern Medical School and a Ph.D. from UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Prior to her senior year at ASU, Ms. El-Ashmawy participated in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Exceptional Research Opportunities Program, which placed her with HHMI investigator Dr. Louis Ptáček at the University of California, San Francisco. At UCSF, she studied cellular mechanisms underlying circadian rhythm, a daily pattern of waking and sleeping that governs the behavior of humans and many other species.

Dr. Shay and Dr. Wright share the Southland Financial Corporation Distinguished Chair in Geriatrics.