Graduate student awarded fellowship with National Institutes of Health

Alissa Meister, a student in Penn State College of Medicine's Neuroscience PhD program, was chosen as a Presidential Management Fellow through the National Institutes of Health.

Penn State College of Medicine student Alissa Meister, who will graduate with a PhD in Neuroscience, was selected as a 2019 Presidential Management Fellow.

Meister will begin her career in September working for Dr. Douglas Sheeley, the deputy director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. She was one of 350 finalists selected from more than 4,000 applicants nationwide.

The Presidential Management Fellows program develops leaders starting at the entry level for advanced degree candidates. It was created more than three decades ago by executive order and is designed to foster careers in the government.

Fellows employed at the National Institutes of Health spend two years learning disciplines that support scientific work beyond the bench of a laboratory. Meister and her colleagues will gain experience in grants management, scientific communication and technology transfer.

Meister is a 2015 graduate of Dickinson College with a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience. At the College of Medicine, she works in the lab of Renato Alberto Travagli, PhD, in the Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences.

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