Kellie Ann Jurado, a postdoctoral fellow in immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), is the recipient of a L’Oreal For Women in Science Fellowship by L'Oréal USA. The fellowship honors female scientists at a critical stage in their careers with $60,000 grants to advance their postdoctoral research.
One of five fellows for 2017, Jurado conducts research focusing on the Zika virus, an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus that can cause severe birth defects and neurological disease. Jurado’s work explores how the Zika virus damages the nervous system, which is critical to developing treatments. The fellowship will help fund this research and further Jurado’s goal of becoming an independent research scientist. It will also support her work on “Cut the Risk,” an educational campaign on sexual and reproductive health targeting minority communities which she is developing with partners at YSM and at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Having benefitted from STEM outreach programs herself, Jurado has been dedicated to increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities and women in STEM throughout her career, most recently serving as a volunteer teacher in an afterschool program in Connecticut. Jurado earned her Ph.D. in virology at Harvard University and a B.S. in biology and microbiology at New Mexico State University.
Jurado will receive her award at a ceremony at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 9,. Fellows will also participate in a student mentoring session and attend In Pursuit: An Atlantic Summit on Women & Science, part of L’Oréal USA’s effort to further the conversation on the importance of increasing women’s representation in STEM fields.