Meet the 2022 STAT Wunderkinds
STAT set out to celebrate the unheralded heroes of science and medicine, poring over hundreds of nominations from across North America in search for the next generation of scientific superstars. We were on the hunt for the most impressive doctors and researchers on the cusp of launching their careers, but not yet fully independent.
This year, as in past years, we’ve found inspiring stories and innovative research. All are blazing new trails as they attempt to answer some of the biggest questions in science and medicine.
Kiran Agarwal-Harding
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Kiran Agarwal-Harding knows the importance of orthopedic care. He wants to make it accessible worldwide.
Daniel Blair
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Daniel Blair is combining chemistry and tech to power virtual drug design.
Daniel Burkhardt
Cellarity
Machine learning researcher Daniel Burkhardt is helping shape a new set of standards to evaluate AI algorithms.
Jasmin Camacho
Stowers Institute
By studying sugar-obsessed bats, Jasmin Camacho is revealing new clues about metabolism.
Caroline Diorio
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
A childhood disease sparked Caroline Diorio’s interest in medicine. Now, she’s working to make more effective treatments for children with cancer.
Brianna Duncan-Lowey
Yale School of Medicine
Science has only scratched the surface of microbiome research. Brianna Duncan-Lowey is taking it to a microscopic level.
Ana Gonzalez-Reiche
Icahn School Of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Ana Gonzalez-Reiche got her start studying avian viruses in Guatemala. Her expertise proved valuable when the pandemic hit.
Brian Hie
Stanford University
Computer scientist Brian Hie has a love of language — whether it’s in Renaissance poetry or protein models.
Alainna Jamal
University of Toronto
Alainna Jamal is advancing what we know about one of the biggest threats to public health: antimicrobial resistance.
Julia Joung
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Playing thousands of games of Go prepared Julia Joung for life as a biological engineer.
Hirofumi Kobayashi
Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
Hirofumi Kobayashi wants to turn the microscopic beauty of cells into tools scientists can use.
Hyunwoo “Tony” Kwon
Ohio State University Medical Center
For Tony Kwon, the path to better understanding tumor biology started with stag beetles.
Hussain Lalani
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
As a primary care doctor, Hussain Lalani sees patients struggle to afford their medicines. He’s hoping policy research could change that.
Caleb Lareau
Stanford University
Genomics researcher Caleb Lareau is channeling the “infectious energy in Silicon Valley” in his science.
Dig Bijay Mahat
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cancer researcher Jay Mahat made it his mission to help his home country of Nepal navigate the pandemic.
Avinash Manjula-Basavanna
Harvard Medical School
Taking a page from nature, Avinash Manjula-Basavanna is designing the next generation of biomaterials.
Chao Mao
MD Anderson Cancer Center
By studying a type of cell death, Chao Mao has discovered a potentially valuable target in cancer therapy.
Filipa Rijo-Ferreira
University of California Berkeley
Our bodies have biological clocks. Filipa Rijo-Ferreira is exploring whether parasites have their own.
Elizabeth Rossin
Mass Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School
Peering into the eyes of patients, Elizabeth Rossin sees a slew of scientific questions.
Laura Rupprecht
Duke University
Laura Rupprecht is trying to understand how our bodies sense sugar. Intestinal cells might be the sweet spot.
Lisa Simon
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Lisa Simon trained as both a doctor and a dentist to bridge the historial divide between oral health and the rest of medicine.
Olukayode Sosina
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Olukayode Sosina scours genomic data to find the hidden clues that might help scientists develop new medicines.
Jennifer Tsai
Yale School Of Medicine
ERs are a last resort for people without regular access to care. Jennifer Tsai is trying to tackle the underlying disparities at play.
Alexander Tucker
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Alexander Tucker is weaving together two distinct areas of medicine: pediatric neurosurgery and wound healing research.
Lawrence Wang
University of California, San Diego
In hunting for a weapon against malaria, Lawrence Wang found an antibody that’s now being put to the test.
Yifan Wang
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Yifan Wang is arming the immune system to fight cancer, one macrophage at a time.
Sara Zaccara
Cornell University
Covid-19 vaccines catapulted mRNA into the spotlight. Sara Zaccara is breaking new ground in our understanding of it.
Roger Zou
Johns Hopkins University
Roger Zou is working to give scientists better control of CRISPR — while he also wraps up his medical degree.
The Wunderkinds were selected solely by STAT's editorial staff. The award sponsor had no input in the decision-making process and the awardees have received no financial benefit from the sponsor.