The Women in Science Student Awards are given annually to honor three Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) female, non-binary or genderqueer students. The Women in Science Student Awards will be given to MCW students who are already making impressive strides at the beginning of their careers, to assist them in their journeys of becoming outstanding women in science.
An award of $500 will be given to an awardee from each of the three MCW Schools: Graduate, Medical and Pharmacy to support their careers as women in science.
2021 Recipients
Laura Danner
Laura Danner is a third-year graduate student in the department of biochemistry in the Olivier-Van Stichelen lab. Living with chronic illness, she experienced firsthand the transformative effects of a whole foods-based diet on her health. Laura returned to university after spending time recovering and completed her bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences at UW-Milwaukee. Wanting to better understand nutritional biochemistry and to have a wide-ranging impact on how physicians and dietitians advise their patients, she joined the Medical College of Wisconsin as a graduate student in 2019. Laura is excited to continue her research and to be a part of queer, female representation in STEM.
Shay Groth
Shay is a PY2 pharmacy student at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from UW-Madison in 2020. She plans on going into pediatric pharmacy after school. Shay is so thankful to everyone who has supported her through school, mainly her mom, and for the School of Pharmacy for giving me the opportunity to help my community during the pandemic.
Meg Lieb
While completing her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Colorado - Boulder, Meg’s enthusiasm for neuroscience research was sparked by her work with Dr. Christopher A. Lowry, Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab, who encouraged her to chase her interests: the interplay of genetics and environment, and how this impacts the neurophysiology underlying stress-related disorders. Driven by intrigue, lived experience of trauma, and a secondary major in Psychology & Neuroscience, Meg unknowingly started to develop an expertise in the field. When she matriculated to the Medical College of Wisconsin, Central Wisconsin campus, Meg shifted her focus to clinical research. Under the valuable mentorship of Dr. Gwendolyn M. Hoben, she is working to understand the neurophysiology of chronic pain, patient impact, and the roles of surgical intervention. During medical school, Meg was offered an opportunity to give purpose to the knowledge she acquired in neurophysiology by helping lead Seeking Peer Outreach (SPO*), an innovative program integrating peer-support and suicide prevention in a tiered framework, elevated to the caliber of medical education. While her studies aim to discover the untold story about the elusive impact of stress on our physiologic well-being, her work with SPO* simultaneously works towards a solution through human connection. She hopes SPO* can strengthen connections by optimizing the accessibility of peer-support networks to transform the culture at our institution for the future lives of healthcare workers and those in medical education. Undoubtedly, these opportunities would not have been possible without the phenomenal support and mentorship she has received at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and she hopes to extend gratitude to all of those who have partaken in her endeavors.