October 3, 2024 — The 2025 recipient of the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) Young Scientist Leadership Award is Dr. Nakisha S. Rutledge, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Prizker School of Molecular Engineering at the Chicago Immunoengineering Innovation Center, University of Chicago (Chicago, IL).
The ASIP Young Scientist Leadership Award recognizes outstanding and sustained achievements at the earliest stages of a career in biomedical research. Characteristics expected of the awardee include exceptional volunteered service and/or leadership within the ASIP, as well as achievements that form the foundation for a successful career as an experimental pathology researcher (scientific publications, scientific presentations at national/international meetings, and awards for excellent research).
Dr. Rutledge graduated from the Spelman College (Atlanta, GA) in 2013 with a BS in biochemistry. She then completed her MS in clinical investigation (2018) and PhD in vascular immunology/inflammation (2022) at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL). During her doctoral research in the lab of Dr. William Muller (Janardan K. Reddy Professor of Pathology), Dr. Rutledge studied the role of adhesion proteins in inflammation using molecular biology and immunology techniques to characterize the role of CD99L2 in the recruitment of leukocytes during inflammation in human cells. Upon graduation from Northwestern University, Dr. Rutledge relocated to the University of Chicago to purse postdoctoral research is in the lab of Dr. Aaron Esser-Kahn (Professor of Molecular Engineering) in the Prizker School of Molecular Engineering). Her current research focuses on the characterization of subpopulation of dendritic cells identified as targets for improving adjuvant immune responses.
Dr. Rutledge has a demonstrated record of leadership within and commitment to the organizations to which she belongs. Dr. Rutledge has been a member of the ASIP since 2016 and has been very engaged since that time. She currently serves on the ASIP Committee for Career Development, the Committee for Equal Representation and Opportunity, and as a Co-Leader of Women in Pathology. Dr. Rutledge is a regular attendee of the ASIP scientific meetings and has received a number of awards for her excellent research. She received ASIP Trainee Scholar Awards to attend the Experimental Biology meetings in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022. In 2020, Dr. Rutledge received an A.D. Sobel Trainee Scholar Award and a PISA2020 Gall Trainee Scholar Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research. Dr. Rutledge is also a member of the North American Vascular Biology Organization (NAVBO) and was inducted into the Edward A. Bouchet Honor Society at Northwestern University in 2022.
In his nomination of Dr. Rutledge for this award, Dr. Muller said that she “…has outstanding potential for a career as an independent investigator… she wants to be able to give back to the community… and these ASIP committees are on the beginning of her leadership efforts…” Outside of the ASIP, Dr. Rutledge served as Chair of the Outreach for the Chicago Graduate Student Association from 2015-2019 and started the “Middle School Scientist for a Day” program, is a founding board member of the Alliance of Chicago Minority Students and has been Chair of their Outreach Committee since 2016. In addition, she volunteers with the Chicago Park District summer camps, with the Lurie Children’s Hospital, M.E.A.N. Girls Empowerment, with the National Alumnae Association of Spelman College, and established “Science in Chicago” to expose underrepresented minorities to nontraditional careers in STEM.
Dr. David Sullivan (Research Associate Professor in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University) commented in his nomination that Dr. Rutledge “…is an excellent candidate with an outstanding potential for a long independent academic career that includes giving back (in a major way) to the communities with which she maintains connections…” and “…she wants to make a difference, she wants to make the path easier for those that follow, and she wants to uplift those around her…”
Dr. Rutledge has published four first-author manuscripts, totaling seven published manuscripts. She has an impressive list of seven invited talks through various organizations, 10 research presentations at national academic conferences. In her nomination of Dr. Rutledge for this award, Dr. Traci Parry (Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro) said that Dr. Rutledge exhibits an “…immense amount of fortitude and commitment to her work and to the people around her… is incredibly intelligent, thoughtful, hard-working, and filled with integrity… has high aptitude for success in the in the field of pathology and will make an excellently skilled principal investigator in time…”
Dr. Rutledge will receive the 2025 ASIP Young Scientist Leadership Award during the 2025 Annual Meeting of the ASIP in Portland, OR (April 2025).
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About ASIP
The American Society for Investigative Pathology is comprised of biomedical scientists who investigate mechanisms of disease. Investigative pathology is an integrative discipline that links the presentation of disease in the whole organism to its fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms. It uses a variety of structural, functional, and genetic techniques and ultimately applies research findings to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. ASIP advocates for the practice of investigative pathology and fosters the professional career development and education of its members.
