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Kellogg Post-Doc Named Michigan Pioneer Fellow
John Han, Ph.D., was one of twelve postdoctoral investigators to receive the 2023-2024 Michigan Pioneer Fellowship.
Awarded by a partnership of U-M’s Medical School Endowment for the Basic Sciences, Life Sciences Institute and College of Literature, Science and the Arts, this highly competitive award provides mentoring support to basic science researchers of extraordinary promise to help them prepare for independent, research-intensive careers.
A self-described ‘academic late bloomer,’ Dr. Han showed little motivation or aptitude until a freshman biology class at Pennsylvania’s Shippensburg University. “Suddenly, biology wasn’t just facts to memorize. It was an elegant process of molecules evolving into entire ecosystems,” he recalls. “I was hooked.”
Catapulted from C-student to the honors society, Dr. Han went on to earn a Ph.D. in cell biology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, where he was mentored by world-renowned eye researcher Nancy Philp, Ph.D. “In her lab, the metabolic ecosystem came to life again,” he says. “Where one cell’s byproducts become another’s building blocks.”
“John combines insatiable curiosity with an unending enthusiasm for experimentation, and takes genuine joy in helping others succeed,” says Dr. Han’s research mentor Jason Miller, M.D., Ph.D. “He has all the characteristics of a truly great collaborative scientist.”
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity, and for Dr. Miller’s support and mentorship,” Dr. Han says. “I hope to someday pay it forward to others who dream of a career in science.”
