Boston University

Katherine Turk, MD, PhD  2025 Toffler Scholar | Assistant Professor of Neurology, Boston University Biography Katherine Turk traces her scientific identity to a single afternoon in college. As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, she enrolled in a required science course taught by a practicing neurologist. One day, the professor brought a patient with…

R. Stefan Isaac, PhD  2025 Toffler Scholar | Assistant Professor, Boston University School of Medicine Biography R. Stefan Isaac did not initially imagine a career in scientific research. Raised in East Tennessee, he came from a family without formal ties to academic science. His earliest exposure came primarily through his mother, a mathematics teacher who…

Jie Yang, PhD  2024 Toffler Scholar | Research Assistant Professor, Boston University School of Medicine Biography Jie Yang grew up in a rural region of eastern China, near Confucius’s birthplace, where education was highly valued. Despite modest circumstances and a lack of academic background, his perseverance and cultural values inspire admiration and pride in his…

Jean-Pierre Roussarie Jean-Pierre Roussarie earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2023 at Boston University Biography When Jean-Pierre Roussarie was born, his father was studying particle physics at Stanford University, so Dr. Roussarie spent his first two years of life in Northern California before his family moved back to France, just outside of Paris. He also…

Julia TCW  Julia TCW earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2022 at Boston University Biography Julia TCW was born in South Korea but spent her early childhood in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. TCW’s early interest in science and biology was inspired by her grandfather, who helped raise her. A microbiologist and visiting professor at Duke University,…

Dr. VijayaKolachalama Dr. Kolachalama earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2021 at Boston University. Biography Vijaya Kolachalama was born in Hyderabad, a city in South India, to a close-knit family. He feels that growing up he had three parents: his mother, his father, and his grandmother, and he credits his grandmother in particular with teaching…