UW’s Board of Health Sciences Deans announced this week that fourth-year UWSOP Medicinal Chemistry student Alex Wiley has been named a 2023-2024 Magnuson Scholar. She is one of 7 awardees honored this year for both her academic performance and potential contributions to research in the health sciences.
Alex, a pre-doctoral candidate who works in Rheem Totah’s lab in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, will receive $34,000 to support her education and research in the upcoming academic year.
Totah, a Medicinal Chemistry professor and associate chair, said Alex is a great role model and empowers others to become better scientists.
“Alex exemplifies the true nature of what it means to be a Magnuson Scholar,” she said. “She is an outstanding student in the lab, leading by example with an excellent work ethic and absolute grace under all the pressures of the past couple of years.”
Though she has had ample opportunities to explore many different research avenues and scientific disciplines, Alex says she found her home in pharmacy.
“My career path is more than a calling, it is a passion for learning, a desire to achieve,
and a drive for excellence,” she said, “but most importantly, it is a lifelong commitment. I am certain I have found ‘my reason’ through my circuitous undergraduate studies and here at UW.”
This prestigious scholarship is a tribute to Warren G. Magnuson, who represented Washington state in the U.S. Senate from 1944 to 1981, and in the U.S. House for the seven years preceding. Read the profiles of this year’s awardees and learn more about the history of the scholarship.