CAMBRIDGE, MA—In March, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Medical Engineering and Medical Physics PhD student, Isha Jain, became one of only thirteen graduate students, worldwide, selected to receive the 2017 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award.
Left: 2017 Weintraub Award Winner and Harvard PhD candidate Isha Jain. Middle: 15-year-old Isha wins a prestigious Intel Award. Right: A young Isha hoists the 2003 PA State Platinum Masters trophy she won in Harrisburg.
"It is such an honor to receive this award,” says Jain, who is originally from Bethlehem, PA. “It is really nice to have validation that you are working on interesting research problems that will hopefully one day have a biomedical impact. Disease relevance and the hope for therapies is the reason I am so drawn to science." Jain works in the lab of Professor Vamsi Mootha, focusing on mitochondrial disease.
The Weintraub Award recognizes outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences. A committee of individuals from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center selects awardees based on the quality, originality and significance of their work.
Jain shares a special connection to First In Math, via her participation in—and domination of—the 24® Game Pennsylvania State 24 Challenge Championships in 2003. Barely big enough to hoist the Platinum Masters Division Championship trophy she won as a 7th-grader, Jain impressed everyone with her focus and determination. Among them was 24® Game and First In Math® creator Robert Sun.
“There are a few ‘24 kids’ who make such a lasting impression that they are remembered even after many years have passed,” says Sun. “Isha is one of them.”
“As a sophomore at Freedom High School, Isha placed fourth in the Zoology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Research Fair,” recalls Sun. “She was quick to credit the role that math skills played in her award-winning research.”