Through the First.In.Women® Precision Medicine Platform, the Connors Center is thrilled to collaborate with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) and to provide grants and support early-career researchers through the First Look Awards. The goal of this grant program is to support translational research at Massachusetts research institutions that furthers our understanding of sex and gender differences, especially for diseases or conditions that affect women exclusively, predominately, or differentially. The First Look Awards fall within our First.In.Women Precision Medicine Platform, which seeks to promote translational investigation to ensure that novel therapeutics are developed to optimize health for both women and men and provide early career grant support to sex and gender-focused investigators.
Anahita Dua, MD, MBA, MSc
2024 Awardee
Director of the Vascular Lab
Co-director of the Peripheral Artery Disease Center and Limb Evaluation and Preservation Program (LEAPP)
Associate Director of the Wound Care Center
Mass General Hospital
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery
Harvard Medical School
“Personalizing Anti-platelet Medications to Decrease Thrombotic Rates in Elderly Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease Post Lower Extremity Revascularization ”
Christina Bailey-Hytholt, PhD and Diana Alatalo, PhD
2024 Awardee
Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
“Lithium-loaded lipid particles for treating bipolar disorder during pregnancy and breastfeeding ”
Lydia Shook, PhD
2024 Awardee
Co-director, Diabetes in Pregnancy Program
Mass General Hospital
Assistant Professor, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Harvard Medical School
“Characterizing the Immune Landscape of the Placenta in Pregnancies Complicated by Type 1 Diabetes”
Mariane Le Fur, PhD
2024 Awardee
Researcher, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
Mass General Hospital
Instructor, Radiology
Harvard Medical School
“Non-invasive diagnosis of endometriosis by molecular imaging”
Natalie Feldman, MD
2024 Awardee
Associate Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Instructor, Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
“Pilot of a Digital Mental Health Intervention for Postpartum Anxiety”
David Pepin, PhD
2023 Awardee
Assistant Molecular Biologist, Department of Surgery
Mass General Hospital
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
Harvard Medical School
“Targeting AMHR2 in cancer-associated mesothelial cells as a treatment for ovarian cancer”
Juan Gnecco, PhD
2023 Awardee
Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Tufts University
“Mapping the mediators of inflammation across the human menstrual cycle”
Krishna Aragam, MD, MS
2023 Awardee
Instructor, Department of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Physician Investigator, Cardiovascular Research Center
Mass General Research Institute
“Assessing genetic risk for peripartum cardiomyopathy”
Zareen Farukhi, MD, MPH
2023 Awardee
Instructor, Department of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Cardiologist, Department of Preventative Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
“Association of Menopausal State, Sex, and Incident CVD events with HDL cholesterol, Particle Subfractions, and Function”
