Peng Receives NSM Junior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research
Weiyi Peng in the Department of Biology & Biochemistry is the 2024 recipient of NSM’s Junior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research. In addition to her faculty appointment, Peng also serves as director of the UH Drug Discovery Institute and interim director of the Center for Nuclear Receptors & Cell Signaling. The award recognizes junior faculty who have demonstrated great potential in research and/or scholarship by virtue of the exceptional quality of their contributions.
Peng’s long-term research goal is to understand and overcome the immune resistance in cancer patients. Aligned with this goal, her primary research efforts focus on elucidating the interplay between cancer and the immune system, dissecting regulatory pathways controlling the rate-limiting steps in the cancer immune cycle, and translating this knowledge into novel therapeutic approaches to improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.
Her current studies include the regulatory role of tumor oncogenic signaling pathways in modulating T-cell mediated antitumor immune response, in particular the PI3K pathway; the impact of deregulated metabolic pathway in tumor on immune resistance; and the signaling pathways controlling T-cell proliferation, survival, and tumor trafficking.
Each NSM department nominates an eligible faculty member for the honor. The award, given each year, comes with a monetary award, plaque, and a nameplate placed on a plaque in the Dean’s Office. The award recipient is recognized at NSM’s Faculty Recognition Luncheon in the fall.
The Junior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research review process relies on the hard work of an ad hoc committee comprised of one faculty member from each NSM department selected by the respective department chairs. The committee makes a recommendation for award to the Dean, who makes the final decision.
A list of previous winners of the Junior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research is on the NSM Recognition and Awards webpage.