CARDINAL FAMILY EMERGENCY TRAINEE PROGRAM

Under the umbrella of the Cardinal Family Emergency Relief Fund made possible through the generosity of the Cardinal Family Fund, the Trainee program sustains critical progress against Alzheimer’s disease by helping researchers in training sustain momentum and preserve promising data despite recent changes in federal funding priorities.

PROTECTING TRAINEES WHEN IT MATTERS MOST

Scientific breakthroughs depend on continuity, yet trainees are often the first to feel the impact of sudden funding shifts. This program meets that moment. By bridging critical gaps, the program allows graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to finish key experiments, safeguard irreplaceable data, and stay focused on discovery rather than uncertainty.

Trainees are drivers of day-to-day discovery and the foundation of future breakthroughs; without intervention, promising work and talent risk being lost at pivotal stages.

Below are the trainees supported in 2025 alone.

LINA C. ANDERHALTEN, M.D., PH.D.
Advisor: Daniel S. Reich, M.D., Ph.D.
National Institutes of Health
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HELENA BARR
Advisor: Beth Stevens, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School | Boston Children’s Hospital
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ISABELLA DIBERARDINO
Advisor: Cheryl Wellington, Ph.D.
University of British Columbia, Canada
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MELISSA COOPER, PH.D.
Advisor: Shane A. Liddelow, Ph.D.
New York University
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AISAN FARHADI GHAREHGHESHLAGHI, PH.D.
Advisor: Gilbert Gallardo, Ph.D.
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
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NIKLAS HAGEMANN, PH.D.
Advisor: Christoph Lange, Ph.D.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
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ACHINT KAUR
Advisor: Robert Vassar, Ph.D.
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
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CHRISTIAN LAGARES LINARES
Advisor: Maria Lehtinen, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School | Boston Children’s Hospital
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HYO LEE, PH.D.
Advisor: Alison M. Goate, D.Phil
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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NICOLE LUMMIS, PH.D.
Advisor: Richard Daneman, Ph.D.
University of California, San Diego
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JAMES MCGREGOR, PH.D.
Advisor: Keith Hengen, Ph.D.
Washington University in St. Louis
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SARAH NAGUIB, PH.D.
Advisor: Li Gan, Ph.D.
Weill Cornell Medicine
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WYNNIE NGUYEN
Advisor: Michael A. Bonaguidi, Ph.D.
University of Southern California
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JARIN TUSNIM, PH.D.
Advisor: Xianhua Piao, M.D., Ph.D.,
University of California, San Francisco
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JOSEPH ZAMBELAS
Advisor: Stephen T.C. Wong, Ph.D.,
Weill Cornell Medicine
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THE CARDINAL FAMILY SCHOLARS FUND FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE RESEARCH

Cardinal Family Fund Programs

THE CARDINAL FAMILY SCHOLARS FUND FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE RESEARCH