Dedicated to training future generations of biomedical researchers.
NIAMS has prepared hundreds of trainees for careers in academia, translational biomedical research, industry, government, and other job sectors. With this page, we highlight our trainees and their careers after completing their training in the NIAMS IRP.
Lai Wei, Ph.D.
Dr. Lai Wei came to the NIAMS as a research fellow in the O'Shea's lab (2006-2009). He went on to become a staff scientist with Dr. Robert Nussenblatt in the Laboratory of Immunology at NEI/NIH (2009-2013). He then served as a Professor of Ophthalmology and the Deputy Director of Research Institute at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University China (2013-2022). Dr. Wei is currently a Professor of Ophthalmology and Immunology, and the Director of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Allergy & Clinical Immunology at Guangzhou Medical University, China. His research is focused on the host-microbe interaction in ocular inflammatory diseases such as uveitis, age-related macular degeneration, and retinitis pigmentosa. He has published 127 peer reviewed articles in journals such as Cell (2), Immunity (7), Nature (5), Nature Med (2), Nature Immunol (3), and Cancer Cell.
Iain B McInnes, CBE, Ph.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.E., F.Med.Sci.
Dr. Iain McInnes completed postdoctoral studies at the NIAMS as a Clinical Research Fellow in the laboratory of Dimitrios Boumpas (1997-1998), where he focused on immune pathogenesis and psoriatic arthritis. He went on to become a leading figure in rheumatology and arthritis research. In October 2020 he was named Vice Principal and Head of College to the College of Medical, Veterinary, and Life Sciences (MVLS) at the University of Glasgow. He is also President of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), where he heads the association’s leadership team. Dr. McInnes was awarded the Commander of order of the British Empire for services to medicine by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Sir James Black Prize Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his “outstanding contribution to the field of immunology.”
Amanda Poholek, Ph.D.
Dr. Amanda Poholek is a NIAMS alumnus from Dr. John O’Shea’s lab, where she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow (2009-2015). She was awarded a highly competitive PRAT Fellowship from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (2009-2012). After her fellowship, she transitioned to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology and Pediatrics. Dr. Poholek is also the director of the health sciences sequencing core. Her research studies how the microenvironment impacts T cell differentiation at transcriptional and epigenetic levels and her work has been published in high impact journals inlcuding Science Immunology.
Golnaz Vahedi, Ph.D.
- Arrived at the NIAMS as a Research Fellow.
- Awarded a Transitional K99 Grant from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for the project: "Super-enhancer structure defines a signature of inflammatory bowel disease."
- Promoted to Staff Scientist.
- Transitioned to a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania (Assistant Professor).
Claudia Ouyang, Ph.D.
- Arrived at the NIAMS as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
- Awarded the prestigious Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant from the Cancer Research Institute, 2015.
- Transitioned to position of Scientist, Immuno-oncology, Intrexon Corporation.
Tara Dutka, Ph.D.
- Arrived at the NIAMS as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
- Transitioned to position of Program Officer, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (contract position).
Paul Bible, Ph.D.
- First arrived at the NIAMS as a Summer Bioinformatics Intern analyzing NGS data.
- After completing graduate studies, returned to the NIAMS as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
- Developed the Peak Assignment and Pattern Search Tool (PAPST) for analyzing ChIP-Seq Data.
- Transitioned to Research Faculty, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Ramiro Iglesias-Bartolome, Ph.D.
- Arrived at the NIAMS as a Research Fellow.
- Selected as an NIH Stadtman Investigator, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NCI).