Caleigh Azumaya receives Karpay Award

Posted by daviskd2 on Monday, January 7, 2019 in News.

Congratulations to Caleigh Azumaya for being named the 2019 recipient of The Karpay Award in Structural Biology.  “I am flattered to receive the Karpay award,” Caleigh said.

Caleigh joined the Nakagawa Lab in 2014 to learn more about glutamatergic signaling, biochemical and molecular biology and cryo-EM. Her main research interest focuses on the structure and function of membrane proteins using cryo-EM as a structural determination technique. During her tenure in the Nakagawa Lab, Caleigh collaborated with Dr. Julio Cordero-Morales at UTHSC and Dr. Erkan Karakas at Vanderbilt.

Outside the lab, Caleigh loves to cook and bake for friends, family and any event that presents itself, notably the CSB Monthly Gathering. She enjoys running and has completed two half marathons while at Vanderbilt. She also started “The Science Scholars Podcast” with Katie Martin, a neuroscience graduate student at New York University. The weekly podcast features different topics in science that are relevant to being a graduate student, a woman in STEM or whatever topic comes up that week!

The Karpay Award was established in 2010 to honor the memory of Dr. Anne Karpay, who died after a four-year battle with breast cancer.  It recognizes one senior graduate student who is a well-rounded colleague and scientist, who is collaborative and collegial and who has performed exceptional research in the field of structural biology.  Karpay exemplified each characteristic and demonstrated a passion for science, for friendship and for life.

“While I didn’t overlap with Dr. Karpay,” said Caleigh, “I’m friends with many previous Karpay Award winners. I am very grateful to be included in this group of awardees.”

Caleigh presents “Grad School: It’s a TRP” on Tuesday, January 22, in 1220 MRB3 as part of the MBTP/CSB Seminar Series.  The seminar begins at 12:20pm with a reception and award presentation to follow.

The Karpay Award is funded entirely by donations to an endowment managed through the Development Office of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.  Donate to the fund through the Giving to Vanderbilt website with a credit or debit card or via payroll deduction.