Meet 2023 Award Recipient
Margaret Hung
Maggie came to the Icahn School of School of Medicine at Mount Sinai from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she majored in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She entered the Biomedical Sciences PhD program in 2017, joining Dr. Robert Krauss’ lab to study the roles of adhesion in regulating muscle stem cell fate.
While at Sinai, Maggie earned a spot on an NIH T32 Interdisciplinary Training Grant for Systems and Developmental Biology and Birth Defects, won multiple academic and extracurricular awards, and published three peer-reviewed papers. Away from the bench, Maggie volunteered for PhD recruitment and orientation events, served on the Black Family Stem Cell Institute retreat organizing committee, was a member of various student leadership committees, and was a teaching assistant for five years. Her proudest acts of service to the Sinai community began with her organization of a peer mentorship program within the MS in Biomedical Sciences program, which took hold and was adopted by the PhD in Biomedical Sciences program through her involvement with the Trainee Health and Wellness Committee (THAW). In late 2017, Maggie was elected as the PhD student co-chair of THAW and worked through the end of 2020 to initiate several large initiatives to build community within the trainee body, destigmatize conversations surrounding mental health in academia, and advocate for the accessibility of mental health resources for trainees within the Mount Sinai Health System.
Maggie would like to thank all of her mentors at Sinai that have supported her in all endeavors along the way and have truly made this PhD a spectacular learning experience, both at and away from the bench. She would also like extend a special thank you to her friends and family who have been endlessly encouraging cheerleaders through all the twists and turns that come with the PhD.
Maggie will graduate with her PhD in Biomedical Sciences and will continue her academic training as a postdoc before pursuing a career in biotechnology.