Each year at the Medical Scholars Program (MSP)’s annual retreat, the MSP advisory committee awards at least one faculty member advising a MSP student with the Advisor of the Year Award. We are happy to announce that the winner this year is our very own Dr. Sayee Anakk! She was nominated by our very own MSP student, Hanna Erickson.
The role of an MSP advisor brings with it many unexpected challenges. MSP students must balance their graduate and medical pursuits, and MSP advisors often put in extra effort to understand and guide their students through this lengthy and often stressful process.
Here is an excerpt from Hanna’s nomination letter:
“Our lab is usually nearly empty by the time midnight strikes. However, in October 2015 the lab was all hands on deck working to get data for an up-coming RO1 deadline. For weeks on end, a majority of the lab members worked past midnight in the lab despite also having classes and, for some, TAing to go to during the day. Notably, one of these lab members was Sayee herself. Though she was busy writing the whole grant, she was also in the lab helping us whether it was running gels or making RNA; she knew how hard we were all working and didn’t want our studies to suffer because of it. This is just one example of Sayee’s commitment to her students’ success, which is why I am nominating her for the MSP Outstanding Advisor Award.”