Immunologist Chrysothemis Brown Named a 2025 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Freeman Hrabowski Scholar

Immunologist Chrysothemis Brown, MD, PhD, whose analysis has been shedding gentle on the event of the youth immune system and its relationship to autoimmunity, allergy, irritation, and most cancers, was amongst 30 early-career scientists nationwide chosen for the 2025 class of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Freeman Hrabowski Scholars.

The prestigious honor helps excellent primary researchers, together with physician-scientists who’ve sturdy potential to develop into leaders of their fields and who’ve fostered a lab atmosphere through which everybody can thrive.

“I’m honored and grateful to be named a Freeman Hrabowski Scholar,” says Dr. Brown, an assistant attending doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and an assistant member of MSK’s Immuno-Oncology Program. “This support will enable our lab to pursue bold, curiosity-driven research on early life immune development and tolerance, while building an inclusive, collaborative environment to train the next generation of scientists.”

Freeman Hrabowski Scholars are appointed to a five-year time period, which is renewable, and obtain assist that features a full wage, advantages, a analysis funds, and scientific tools. The program additionally helps develop students’ management and mentoring expertise.

“We are incredibly proud of Dr. Brown’s inclusion in the 2025 class of scholars,” says Joan Massagué, PhD, who not too long ago served as MSK’s Chief Scientific Officer. “This recognition is a testament to Dr. Brown’s groundbreaking work in understanding the intricate balance of immune tolerance and her dedication to developing a positive research environment. This recognition not only highlights her potential to transform the landscape of immunology and immuno-oncology but also underscores the importance of supporting and developing the upcoming generation of scientific leaders.”

Dr. Massagué additionally notes that the brand new class of students contains two MSK alumna: Corina Amor Vega, MD, PhD, of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a former postdoctoral researcher within the lab of Scott Lowe, PhD; and Elizabeth Wasmuth, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, a former postdoc within the lab of Charles Sawyers, MD.

Dr. Brown did her undergraduate medical coaching at Oxford University and University College London. She skilled in pediatrics in London and obtained her doctorate in immunology. She then joined the lab of Alexander Rudensky, PhD, Chair of the Immunology Program at MSK’s Sloan Kettering Institute, to pursue research within the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of immune cell destiny. There she found new immune cell subsets and their transcriptional regulators. She additionally pioneered single-cell transcriptomic research of pediatric autoimmune illness and human most cancers, uncovering a brand new sort of antigen-presenting cell that promotes tolerance to useful micro organism within the intestine in youth.

Earlier this 12 months, her lab printed a research in Science displaying how these immune cells play a necessary and beforehand unknown position in suppressing inflammatory responses to meals.

“Our research aims to answer longstanding questions in immune tolerance by integrating new insights gained from discoveries of specialized antigen-presenting cells with a rich body of foundational research,” she says. “Our goal is to uncover fundamental mechanisms that could ultimately shape our understanding and treatment of immune-related diseases.”

Dr. Brown has additionally obtained a number of different notable awards together with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases New Innovator Award, a Pew Biomedical Scholar Award, a Josie Robertson Young Investigator Award, and a Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize.