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Lupus Foundation of America Awards Two Grants to Early Career Scientists Advancing the Understanding of Lupus and Potential New Treatment Pathways

by | Aug 27, 2025

2025 Career Development Award Recipients

The Lupus Foundation of America is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Gary S. Gilkeson Career Development Award (CDA). The two-year grant supports critical lupus research conducted by early career scientists and provides mentorship to guide their studies and help ensure future growth in the lupus research field. This year’s awardees are Jared Graham, PhD, Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Nebraska Medical Center and Jacquelyn Nestor, PhD, MD, Attending Rheumatologist, Massachusetts General Hospital.

“The Lupus Foundation of America’s Gary S. Gilkeson Career Development Award is a pivotal stepping stone in the careers of many lupus researchers,” shared Brad Rovin, MD, Chair of the Lupus Foundation of America’s Medical-Scientific Advisory Council. “The funding from these grants – coupled with the mentorship from leading experts in the field – not only supports important research, but also invests in the growth of the lupus research field. Drs. Graham and Nestor represent the future of lupus research and we are excited to see what they uncover with this grant funding.”

Research conducted by this year’s awardees will provide insights into specific pathways in the body that may be altered in a way that favors the development of lupus. Findings from these studies could potentially lead to the development of new treatment strategies.

“The support provided by the Lupus Foundation of America Gary S. Gilkeson Career Development Award comes during a formative stage in an investigator’s career, and as a result, it helps ensure a robust pipeline of the next generation of lupus researchers,” shared Andrew Luster, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital and 2025 Career Development Award mentor. “These researchers are the ones who will bring new ideas and enthusiasm to the field of lupus research and help move it forward.” 

The 2025 Career Development Award recipients will advance lupus research in the following areas of study:

  • Jared Graham, PhD, will be studying a protein called SHP-2 to see how it may cause the immune system to get confused in lupus and start attacking healthy cells by mistake. In people with lupus, certain immune cells known as B cells can become overactive and make “autoantibodies” that attack the body’s own tissues. SHP-2 slows the activity of helper T cells that normally keep immune responses from spiraling out of control. By learning how this protein affects T-Cells and B-Cells, Dr. Graham hopes to uncover new treatment pathways that may be able to mitigate the production of harmful autoantibodies that drive the development of lupus and its symptoms.
  • Jacquelyn Nestor, PhD, MD, will be studying individual immune cells from the blood of healthy patients and those with lupus and other autoimmune diseases in the hopes of revealing abnormalities that are shared across autoimmunity and highlight those that are unique to lupus. These irregularities can potentially serve as targets for new medications to help treat lupus and other autoimmune conditions.

Learn more about the Gary S. Gilkeson Career Development Award and its 2025 grantees, here.

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