 Erin Denny (Photo by Darrin S. Joy) |
A generous grant from the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation will help five first-year students at the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences pursue promising careers in biomedicine.
The grant to City of Hope, which establishes five student fellowships in the foundation’s name, marks more than 15 years of support from the Berger Foundation.
This year’s H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation Fellowships cover stipends and benefits for first-year students Erin Denny, Kurt Jenkins, Armen Mardiros, Jodi Murakami and Sergey Nechaev. The Berger Foundation awards fellowships based on students’ performances in fall classes, their first 10 weeks working in laboratories and their reports on rotation experiences.
 Kurt Jenkins (Photo by Darrin S. Joy) |
“We’re grateful to the Berger Foundation for their continued support,” said Steven Novak, Ph.D., associate dean of the graduate school. “The driving force in biomedical research is the people, and their investment will have a strong and lasting impact here.”
This is the second consecutive year the Berger Foundation has awarded five fellowships. It previously awarded four fellowship grants each year.
“It’s really an honor to be named a Berger Fellow,” said Denny. “The first year can be a little daunting, so it’s kind of a confidence-builder to be recognized and supported.”
Prior to enrolling in City of Hope’s graduate school, Denny graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in biotechnology. While an undergraduate, she completed two summer internships at the National Eye Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health. She also spent a summer with a Paris biotechnology company, Theraptosis, and two summers at City of Hope in the research laboratory of Mike Chen, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Neurosurgery.
 Armen Mardiros (Photo by Darrin S. Joy) |
Jenkins earned a bachelor’s degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan. He worked two years at a contract research organization in Ohio, then moved to the pathology department at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, N.C., where he was a lab technician.
Mardiros attended Glendale Community College before transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry. He earned his master’s degree at California State University Northridge, where he was awarded the Sandra L. Jewett scholarship. He also received a grant from the university’s Graduate Studies Office thesis support program and was voted the graduate teaching assistant of the year in the school’s chemistry and biochemistry department.
 Jodi Murakami(Photo by Darrin S. Joy) |
Murakami earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Hawaii, where she also performed research as a volunteer in a bacterial genetics laboratory. She completed a seven-month internship with Hawaiian biotechnology company Tissue Genesis Inc. and worked as a research associate in the Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases Laboratory at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Nechaev holds a master’s degree in biochemistry from Novosibirsk State University in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia. He also participated in the international summer traineeship in the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany.
 Sergey Nechaev (Photo by Darrin S. Joy) |
The H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation has contributed nearly $1 million to City of Hope since 1994. Established as a private family foundation in 1961 and headquartered in Palm Desert, Calif., the foundation supports educational and other charitable projects. Since 1993, the foundation has contributed more than $300 million to charities throughout Southern California and the U.S.
