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Written by: Hannah Buckelew
Published: April 23rd, 2024
Elizabeth Brown, Ph.D., M.P.H., Endowed Professor of Cancer Pathobiology, Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, Associate Director for Population Science, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a recipient of this year’s 2024 Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship.
The Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award recognizes full-time regular UAB faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments as mentors of graduate students and/or postdoctoral fellows.
Brown joined UAB in 2006 after completing graduate training in cancer epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University and a post-doctoral program in cancer epidemiology and immunogenetics at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Brown accepted her first role as assistant professor in the UAB Department of Epidemiology, UAB School of Public Health, where she also worked as an adjunct scientist in the NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics for four years.
Not long after joining UAB, in 2008 Brown established the Integrative Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology (IMAGE) study of myeloma, to better understand the causes of multiple myeloma and the pre-malignant conditions that lead to this devastating blood cancer. Her time working with leaders in the field at NCI, together with the timing of the creation of a new consortium, the International Lymphoma and Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph), influenced her to pursue research in multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer. Today, she is one of the country’s most renowned researchers in multiple myeloma.
In the fall of 2022, Brown was named the second-ever holder of the Endowed Professorship in Cancer Pathobiology, in the Department of Pathology. Brown says her time educating and mentoring those in the field has been a true highlight of her academic career.
“It’s an honor to be recognized for excellence in mentorship,” says Brown. “While at UAB, I have had the privilege of mentoring a wide spectrum of outstanding trainees from high school students to graduate-level students including medical students, postdoctoral fellows and early-stage investigators. Playing a role in mentoring and inspiring the next generation of translational and clinical researchers is truly a highlight of my academic career. I enjoy working with my mentees to ignite a spark of genuine enthusiasm for thinking about and doing great science and empowering them to exceed their comfort zones to think critically and creatively. The ‘aha’ moments are priceless.”
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Elizabeth Brown on her achievement and recognition for her contributions and mentorship of her students.
