Penn doctoral student awarded $500,000 grant

Carmen Williams -- a doctoral student in biomedical science at the University Medical Center -- is the first at the University to receive a prestigious Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Biomedical Sciences. She was one of only 19 scientists chosen to receive a 6-year, $500,000 grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund -- an independent private foundation established in 1955 to advance the medical sciences through supporting research and other scientific and educational goals. Williams said she discovered the grant from a web advertisement. The application process involves a five-page proposal of one's plans for six years of postdoctoral research and the submission of letters of recommendation from a residency supervisor and other University representatives. Williams -- a research associate in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology -- said she wanted to use the grant to continue the research on how fertilization happens which she has already done for her doctoral thesis. She will investigate the mechanisms by which sperm alert eggs to their presence so fertilization can occur. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund advisory board chose 32 applicants to interview from the over 200 scientists who submitted proposals. Williams flew to Dallas to be interviewed by members of the advisory board -- which she said included many well-known scientists. During the interview, she made a five-minute presentation about her proposal and answered questions for 15 minutes. "It was intimidating to say the least," she said. A magna cum laude graduate of Duke University with a bachelor's degree in engineering, Williams received her medical degree from Duke's School of Medicine in 1986. She completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1990, where she won the Resident Teaching Award. In 1992 Williams completed her fellowship training in reproductive endocrinology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University's Medical Center and began a doctoral program in Cell and Molecular Biology. She has co-authored several published studies and was certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1994.

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