Chancellor Block congratulated the five scholars: Michelle Rozenman, Ph.D., April Thames, Ph.D., Yvonne Yang, MD, PhD, Eliza Congden, Ph.D. and Nanthia Sulthana, Ph.D. Dr. Kelsey Martin, the Executive Vice Dean and Associate Vice Chancellor of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told the audience that she was especially proud that all five scholars this year were women. Dr. Andrew Leuchter, faculty advisor to The Friends, introduced each scholar and spoke briefly about their field of research. On behalf of all the scholars, Dr. Yvonne Yang, the recipient of the Chancellor Gene Block Scholar Award, expressed her gratitude to The Friends for supporting young investigators and giving them the opportunity to establish themselves as primary researchers in their chosen field. Each Friends Scholar receives a two -year grant of up to $50,000 per year to support their groundbreaking research. This is a highly competitive award and each year we receive many more applications from postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members than we have available funding for. A panel of esteemed Semel Institute faculty and Friends of Semel Board members evaluates each proposed study and the finalists are interviewed. After completing the selection process, our only regret is that were not able to support more scholars grants.