When Anna Li’s family emigrated from China to the United States with only $20 in cash, they did it so that she could have a future. Today, she’s the University’s first-ever recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, an annual award that provides $90,000 throughout two years to immigrants and first-generation students pursuing graduate education.

Li, who is pursuing an MD/PhD at Pitt with a focus on treating antibiotic-resistant infections in cystic fibrosis patients, is among 30 recipients in the 2023 class of fellows, who were selected out of nearly 2,000 applicants.

In addition to her studies, Li is the founder and CEO of Korion Health, a startup developing an electronic stethoscope and app that allow patients to accurately monitor their vitals at home and relay that information to their doctor.

Rising third-year medical student Stephen C. Frederico received a Medical Scholars Research Fellowship from the Physician-Scientist Support Foundation. Frederico is using his fellowship, which comes with a $50,000 prize, to support a year of funded brain tumor research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Frederico’s career path came into view when, shortly before college, he lost a close friend to diffuse midline glioma (DMG), a highly aggressive brain tumor that predominantly affects children; the average survival rate is 11 months or less. Researchers at Dana-Farber have biopsied DMG tumors in children and found a specific target to inhibit the cancer, using a small molecule inhibitor. Frederico has joined their efforts.

Since arriving in Boston over the summer, he has decided to pursue a master’s degree in clinical investigation at Harvard University. His work at the Dana-Farber lab seems promising for finding a new drug therapy for treatment-resistant tumors, which will form his master’s thesis.

Read more from the Fall 2023 issue.