Isbah Khan of Billings, Montana, can now add the prestigious Edwin E. Osgood Award to her resume. Khan was recognized for presenting the top-scoring abstract at the Western Student and Resident Medical Research Forum (WSMRF) in Carmel, California. A second-year medical student in the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Montana WWAMI program, Khan received this honor for her research on hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) – a procedure that involves transferring healthy stem cells into a patient to treat diseases that affect the blood or immune system. Khan focused on telomere dynamics in long-term survivors (treated for cancer and non-cancerous conditions) and their stem cell donors. Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences at the tips of our chromosomes, like the plastic caps on shoelaces, which protect the chromosomes from damage during cell division. Telomeres naturally shorten each time a cell divides.
“This award reflects the hard work behind this project and my passion for oncology and transplant immunology,” Khan said. “It’s an incredible honor.”
Khan credited her mentor, M. Ueda Oshima, M.D., M.A., with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, for providing invaluable support.
“This achievement would not have been possible without her guidance. The novelty of our project really stood out,” she noted.
Khan’s research, spanning over 35 years of data, explored telomere length correlations between donors and recipients, identifying links with factors such as disease type, donor sex, and conditioning therapy.
“The most intriguing aspect included studying some of the world’s longest survivors of HCT,” Khan said. “It deepened my understanding of the molecular mechanisms affecting these patients.”
“We are excited to see the impactful research that Ms. Khan has performed as a MSU/MT WWAMI student in cooperation with the Fred Hutch Cancer Center/UW School of Medicine (UWSOM) in Seattle,” said Jay Erickson, M.D., UWSOM Assistant Clinical Dean for Montana.
Khan hopes her work will pave the way for advancements in care for stem cell and organ transplant patients in the future.