For nearly a century, the Jane Coffin Childs Fund has empowered scientists whose discoveries continue to drive innovation and breakthroughs in medicine and understanding of human disease.
John D. Childs Chair, Board of Managers
Jane Coffin Childs Fund
The Jane Coffin Childs Fund is unwavering in its mission to drive the future of scientific discovery for the betterment of humanity.
2025 has proved to be a time of uncertainty within the biomedical research community, as funding sources have been disrupted and research universities have come under scrutiny. The impact on our Jane Coffin Childs Fellows has been profound, ranging from distractions that inhibit scientific progress to existential threats to their careers. The JCC Board of Managers is concerned for the scientific enterprise, but we find hope in the extraordinary JCC legacy—88 consecutive years of steadfast support for scientific discovery and for the brilliant minds driving it forward.
The dramatic changes at the NIH, FDA and CDC and the federal government’s disposition toward research universities have created instability across the scientific enterprise. In that context, we want to say this clearly: The Jane Coffin Childs Fund was built for and in times like these.
1937, the year the Jane Coffin Childs Fund was established, was also a time of uncertainty. The Great Depression was more intractable than hoped, and the international situation was rapidly deteriorating. Scientific advances since the turn of the century had mostly been in physics, not medical research. But my great-grandfather Starling W. Childs and his sister-in-law Alice Coffin understood that research into the causes and treatment of cancer, and advances in medical science, would require resources and talent. And so, they established the JCC Fund in June 1937.
Two years later, World War II broke out as the greatest self-inflicted catastrophe to befall humankind. After the war, a victorious United States spearheaded advances in manufacturing and defense technology, foreign aid, and science. Increases in spending through federal
agencies, including the NIH, created a research university-led scientific enterprise that has been the best in the world, attracting eager scientists for nearly nine decades. The JCC Fund has been an enthusiastic participant in building and maintaining this paradigm.
Times have changed and research universities have become increasingly linked to ideologies that have little to do with science. There is low public trust in institutions and, more recently, distrust in science has increased. The scientific community may need to shift the funding paradigm that the JCC Fund has proudly participated in. But more importantly, we remain committed to science and to building a new funding paradigm, if that is what is required. We will collaborate with our partners in the scientific research community to ensure that there continues to be a robust system for funding research laboratories where postdoctoral fellows can do their work. In addition, we are finding ways to further support our current Fellows during this period of transition, including extending fellowships, providing additional resources, and supporting career and communication training.
No matter what lies ahead, JCC remains a stable, independent, and mission-driven champion for science. JCC Fellows are part of a legacy of scientists who have risen in times of challenge to lead, to question, and to transform how we understand and treat human disease. They are the next generation of pioneers, problem-solvers, and visionaries, gathered in pursuit of knowledge that will change lives. The JCC Fund and its Board of Managers are proud to support their work, and even prouder to stand beside them as they step into the scientific leadership the world so urgently needs and cannot give up on.
Every $1 invested generated $60 in additional funding in aggregate earned by JCC Fellows throughout their careers # of Applicants
$3.5M
M
Sue Biggins, Ph.D.
Director, Board of Scientific Advisors
Investigator, HHMI
Division
of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Sue Biggins, Ph.D., the Director of the Board of Scientific Advisors, reflects on how deeply curious and resilient JCC Fellows are to be navigating today’s complex environment.
Through my role as Chair of the Board of Scientific Advisors, I’ve had the opportunity to step back from the challenges currently facing science and reflect on the hope and potential that our JCC Fellows represent. As you’ll see throughout this report, our Fellows remain deeply curious, resilient, and profoundly aware of the complex environment we all share. Neither they—nor we as an organization—are backing down.
To ensure we continue to support them as fully as possible, JCC has extended award deadlines, increased funding where needed, and provided enhanced communications and advocacy training. In times of uncertainty, organizations like JCC serve a small but pivotal role. As an independent foundation, we are committed to deepening our support for our Fellows and making sure they know just how vital their work is.
At the 2025 annual symposium in Chicago, JCC’s Board of Managers (BOM), Board of Scientific Advisors and Program Office hosted a town hall to listen to our Fellows’ concerns about the state of science. The JCC team identified three areas of immediate vulnerability for the Fellows:
1. Financial insecurity due to funding cuts/resource scarcity.
2. Employment obstacles due to changes in policy.
3. Diminished morale and instability of the workforce pipeline in addition to recruiting pressures from outside of the U.S.
Our exceptional Board of Scientific Advisors takes seriously the responsibility of selecting each brilliant new class of JCC Fellows, and this report reflects the impact of their thoughtful work. As a former JCC Fellow myself, I am continually amazed by the remarkable achievements of my fellow alumni. It’s been a privilege to highlight some of those individual accomplishments here, such as the 2025 Lasker~Koshland Special Recognition Award for Lifetime Scientific Achievement presented to 1966 JCC Fellow Dr. Lucy Shapiro. It is also equally important to recognize the broader impact of the JCC Fellows community, which we are now carefully tracking and honoring.
We salute each of you for your contributions to science and stand beside you as you continue forward.
The BOM committed an additional $265,000 to the annual budget to stabilize Fellows’ positions as they face federal budget cuts.
50% of remaining 2022 Fellows received additional financial support and an extension of their award.
“I want to express how much it means to me to be a JCC Fellow during these times and knowing that the people who are supporting me and my career value me and my research!”
42% of Fellows participated in communications training to be able to introduce themselves and their science in a concise and lay-friendly manner.
The Everyday Scientist project pulls back the curtain on the people behind the research. These short videos showcase the incredible range of talent within the JCC community— highlighting not just what our Fellows study, but why they are passionate about it. Whether you’re a fellow scientist or simply science-curious, these stories offer a glimpse into the minds driving discovery.
Amir Bitran JCC third year
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Ya’el Courtney JCC first year
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JCC second year
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JCC first year
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Across decades and disciplines, JCC alumni have transformed science, medicine, and society— each charting a path that continues to inspire new generations.
Daisy Dussoix, Ph.D., 1965
Dussoix was awarded a Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship in 1965, joining an early cohort of women supported by the Fund. As a JCC Fellow, she collaborated with Ruth Lehmann, Ph.D., investigating host-controlled modifications of bacterial viruses. Being a woman in science in the 1960s was rare and filled with obstacles such as gender discrimination, limited access to resources, and underrepresentation in leadership. Her application summary illustrates the gender bias at the time, stating, “Dr. Dussoix
Lucy Shapiro, Ph.D., 1966
Shapiro’s scientific trajectory is a remarkable journey from artist to chemist, spanning the neighborhoods of New York to the coastline of California. The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, she grew up in a home that valued education. Initially drawn to the arts, Shapiro prepared a full portfolio of drawings and paintings for her high school entrance exam, envisioning a future as a medical illustrator.
A serendipitous encounter changed everything. After meeting Ted Shedlovsky, Shapiro enrolled in an organic chemistry
is a 28-year-old single Swiss citizen who received her Ph.D. from the Institut de Biophysiques, University of Geneva in 1964.” In contrast, her male colleagues in 1965 were described in terms reflective of their work ethic and intellectual capacity.
Dussoix’s graduate work with Werner Arber, Ph.D., on restriction enzymes was critical to the discovery that led to Arber being awarded a Nobel Prize in 1978. Today we revere restriction enzymes as a hallmark of molecular biology. They have revolutionized genetic engineering, DNA sequencing, cloning, and gene therapies, making previously unattainable research and innovations possible. Later in her career, at UCSF, she investigated protoncogenes in collaboration
course and discovered an unexpected passion. Viewing molecules in three-dimensional space resonated with her artistic instincts and inspired her to pursue a Ph.D. at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her studies demanded daily crosstown commutes, additional coursework, and long hours in dusty library stacks—effort rewarded by mentorship from scientific pioneers Severo Ochoa and Jerry Hurwitz.
Shapiro’s connection to the Jane Coffin Childs Fund began during her postdoctoral training. When her original plan fell through due to an advisor’s unexpected leave, she completed a short stint in Julius Marmur’s lab at Einstein—an early example of how academic paths can shift unexpectedly. She later secured a faculty position at
with Harold Varmus, M.D., who was also awarded a Nobel Prize (in 1989).
Like many women in science, Dussoix did not receive the recognition she deserved at the time. In a letter to her brother and sisterin-law following Arber’s Nobel she wrote, “I am very furious, because apparently he has not even mentioned my name, and I have done half of the work for which he received the Nobel Prize.” This raises the question of how we strive to reach gender parity and reduce gender bias within the scientific pipeline. Today, the Jane Coffin Childs Fund is proud to carry forth Dussoix’s legacy in being led by an allfemale staff, with over 50% of each class of Fellows now represented by promising female scientists.
Einstein, leading groundbreaking research on cell division and antibiotic resistance. In 1989, Shapiro made a bold move to Stanford as the founding Chair of Developmental Biology, further cementing her leadership in science. Beyond academia, she co-founded a biopharmaceutical company and served as a White House advisor on bioterrorism during the anthrax scare. To honor her 55-year career in biomedical science, Shapiro was recently recognized with the 2025 Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. Her career, much like an abstract painting, may appear unpredictable at first glance—but from the right perspective, it reveals a true masterpiece.
A pioneer in immunology, Littman’s scientific journey had humble beginnings. Born in Bucharest, Romania, his family immigrated to the United States to escape Stalinist rule. Growing up during the space race, he enrolled at Princeton University to study aerospace engineering but soon became fascinated by molecular biology and began conducting research in the lab of Marc Kirschner, Ph.D. After graduation, Littman earned an M.D./Ph.D. at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he shifted his focus to the immune system, particularly T lymphocytes—a type of white blood cell essential for defending against infections and cancer.
Littman launched his independent research program at the University of California, San Francisco at the height
Silpe, a 2021 JCC Fellow, recently took his scientific training in quorum sensing in bacteria and applied it to a problem he, and many other families, were experiencing at home. With the arrival of their second daughter, Silpe and his wife found that their baby’s nutritional needs were not being met. Their daughter did not want to drink breastmilk that had been pumped and frozen for later use, but it was unclear as to why. As Silpe and his wife reached out to their communities, they found other parents were experiencing the same issue. This led Silpe to investigate what changes were occurring upon freezing that rendered the breastmilk unsuitable for some
of the AIDS epidemic, when no effective treatments were available. He and his colleagues helped identify CD4, the receptor HIV uses to enter cells, and later discovered CCR5, a molecule that became the basis for antiviral drugs still used to treat AIDS today. In later years, his work turned to Th17 cells, which are critical for protecting body surfaces but can also trigger autoimmune diseases. Today, Littman’s research centers on identifying new molecular targets that may lead to therapies for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Throughout his career, Littman has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, honoring his profound impact on immunology and human health. His work continues to demonstrate how deeper knowledge of immune cells can guide better treatments for human disease.
infants. He brought in a sample to the Princeton lab of Bonnie Bassler, Ph.D., his mentor and a former JCC Board of Scientific Advisors chair. There, he discovered that the milk was changing not only in texture and flavor, but also in nutritional value after storage.
Silpe and his wife reached out to their community and collected breastmilk from donors throughout New Jersey. Through a lengthy screening process, Silpe identified three infant-safe compounds that, when added to breastmilk, preserved its integrity even after the freezing and thawing process. With this scientific finding, Silpe and Bassler founded PumpKin, a company devoted to preventing breastmilk from going rancid and meeting infant nutritional needs. Silpe’s project highlights how fundamental scientific research can unexpectedly transform into a lifechanging solution.
Meet our Fellows, who are exploring bold questions and advancing knowledge at the frontiers of biology and medicine.
Wesley Saintilnord, Ph.D.
JCC Class of 2025, Washinton University in St. Louis
Saintilnord is a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, working in the lab of Ting Wang, Ph.D. His research focuses on a fascinating part of our DNA called transposable elements (TEs)—these are pieces of genetic material that can “jump” from one place in the genome to another. While TEs were once thought to be mostly nonfunctional or “junk” DNA, we now know they can play important roles in how our genes are regulated. Saintilnord is studying how cancer cells take advantage of these TEs. Specifically, he wants to understand how TEs help cancer cells turn certain genes on or off and how the products they generate encourage tumor growth. To do this, he is developing a powerful screening tool to identify which TE-derived genetic messages are especially beneficial to cancer cells and investigating how their proteins influence how cells communicate and organize their DNA. By uncovering the hidden ways that TEs support cancer, Saintilnord’s work could open the door to new treatment strategies that target these overlooked parts of our genome.
Madeleine Junkins, Ph.D.
JCC Class of 2025, Yale University
Junkins is a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University in the lab of Ruslan Medzhitov, Ph.D., where she studies how the immune system and brain work together when our bodies are fighting off illness. Her research explores how signals from the immune system, such as inflammation, can influence brain activity and behavior. She’s particularly interested in a group of brain regions called the sensory circumventricular organs. These areas are unique because they don’t have the typical protective barrier between the blood and the brain, which may allow them to “sense” signals from the immune system. Junkins hypothesizes that special cells in these regions, called tanycytes, play a dual role: They help shield nearby brain cells from overwhelming immune signals and detect those signals, triggering brain responses that help the body recover. Using a wide range of tools—from genetic analysis and advanced brain imaging to behavioral studies—Junkins is uncovering how the immune system and brain communicate during illness. Her work could lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets for neuroimmune disorders.
Emily Rundlet, Ph.D.
JCC Class of 2024, University of Texas at Austin
Rundlet is a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Texas at Austin in the lab of Jason McLellan, Ph.D. Her work focuses on developing a safer and more effective vaccine to protect against mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox. Mpox has gained international attention in recent years due to its rapid spread, leading the World Health Organization to declare it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Currently, the main vaccine used against mpox is called Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic, which was originally created to prevent smallpox, which is caused by a related virus. In efforts to develop an improved vaccine, she studies how antibodies—proteins our immune system makes to fight infections—can block the virus. By isolating antibodies without first knowing the specific part of the virus they target (a process known as “antigen-agnostic” isolation), she can uncover new ways the immune system naturally defends against mpox. She also uses artificial intelligence to predict the structure of viral proteins and a powerful imaging tool called cryo-electron microscopy to see these structures in near-atomic detail. Through this innovative approach, Rundlet and her colleagues have identified a brand-new target on the virus that could be used in future vaccines. Her work could lead to broader, more affordable protection against not only mpox but related diseases as well.
JCC Class of 2024, Oregon Health & Science University
Tullis is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Michael S. Cohen, Ph.D., at Oregon Health & Science University, where he studies how a specific class of PARP1 (poly ADP-ribose polymerase 1) inhibitors work, with the goal of developing more effective cancer treatments. PARP1 inhibitors are widely used to treat cancers with mutations in the BRCA genes, such as ovarian and breast cancer. These drugs are especially effective when cancer cells have a defect in a DNA repair process called homologous recombination. Yet some tumors eventually regain the ability to repair DNA, making these treatments less effective over time. Tullis recently discovered that certain PARP1 inhibitors not only block the enzyme’s activity but also change its shape, causing it to bind more tightly to damaged DNA. This prolonged binding disrupts DNA replication and causes further DNA damage—even in cancer cells that can usually repair DNA. His findings suggest that changing the shape of PARP1 to alter how it functions could offer a new way to overcome treatment resistance and expand the effectiveness of PARP inhibitors to a broader range of tumors. By uncovering how these inhibitors affect DNA repair in different ways, Tullis’ research is helping to deepen our understanding of how PARP1 inhibitors work and how they can be improved, paving the way for more durable and widely applicable cancer therapies.
JCC Class of 2023, Harvard University
Villar is a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University in the lab of Nicholas Bellono, Ph.D., where he studies how octopuses sense and respond to reproductive signals. His research explores the fascinating ways these intelligent sea creatures find and recognize potential mates—an important part of understanding how species evolve and diversify. Although octopuses are typically solitary, when it comes time to mate, males use a specialized arm called the hectocotylus to locate the female’s ovaries and transfer sperm. Villar discovered that this arm is much more than a simple delivery tool. It’s actually a highly complex sensory organ capable of detecting chemical cues from the female, even without help from other senses. His work shows that the hectocotylus is equipped with unique receptors that allow it to detect hormones released by the female’s ovaries. These receptors evolved from ancient neurotransmitter sensors but have changed over time to better detect the signals needed for mating. Incredibly, even when the octopuses no longer have the hectocotylus, it can still respond to these hormonal signals, showing that the ability to detect and respond to a potential mate is hardwired into the arm itself. Villar’s findings reveal how octopuses have evolved a unique sensory system tailored to their mating behavior.
JCC Class of 2023, Boston University
Beacham is a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University, where she is mentored by Elliott Hagedorn, Ph.D., and Christopher Chen, M.D., Ph.D. Her research focuses on how cells move through blood vessels and into tissues, a process known as trans-endothelial migration. Understanding this process could help improve treatments like bone marrow transplants and CAR T-cell therapy, where it’s important to deliver therapeutic cells to specific areas of the body. Beacham is especially interested in the cells that line blood vessels, called endothelial cells, and how they help guide blood stem cells into a specialized area known as the stem cell niche. Certain endothelial cells in this niche produce special proteins called scavenger receptors and use internal “cargo systems” known as endocytosis machinery to take in materials from their surroundings. Using tools like live-cell imaging, protein analysis, and zebrafish models, Beacham is testing whether this internalizing activity is essential for guiding stem cells to the right place. She’s also studying whether these features are built into the endothelial cells themselves or influenced by the surrounding environment, using both zebrafish transplants and lab-grown human blood vessels. By uncovering how endothelial cells control where therapeutic cells go, Beacham’s research could pave the way for more precise and effective treatments that rely on delivering cells to specific parts of the body.
Advances in scientific research that result in improvements to human health are prompted by imagination, a bold determination to seek answers, and the versatility to consider novel approaches. These characteristics define not only those who conduct biomedical research but also those who invest in it.
Since 1937, the Jane Coffin Childs Fund for Medical Research has supported some of the best and brightest postdoctoral fellows in the world, specifically in oncology and human disease research. The tale of modern medicine can be found in our files describing brilliant scientific minds who have been endorsed by our organization and have been recognized with seven Nobel Prizes for making major contributions to the fields of chemistry and physiology.
As we work hard to share more about our scientific impact over the course of nearly 90 years, we hope you will join us in our journey to fund more innovative, early-career scientific leaders whose work will one day have the power to transform the scientific landscape.
To learn more about the JCC Fund please visit jccfund.org or get in touch with us!
Anita Pepper, Ph.D.
EMAIL: anita.pepper@yale.edu
Executive Director PHONE: 203-785-4613
