Ragon Institute

Congratulations to Batista Lab research fellow Raphael Reyes, who has been awarded the 2026 Warren Alpert Distinguished Scholar Fellowship in Immunotherapy.

The fellowship provides a stipend over two years to support his research exploring how the immune system helps maintain a healthy vaginal microbiome, work that could open new pathways for protecting against vaginal dysbiosis and its associated health consequences. This research is being conducted in collaboration with the Kwon Lab at Ragon.

Learn more: https://ragoninstitute.org/2026/06/batista-lab-research-fellow-awarded-2026-warren-alpert-distinguished-scholar-fellowship-in-immunotherapy/

Call for applicants: The Ramón Areces Foundation Research Fellowship

The Ragon Institute is now accepting applications for this two-year postdoctoral fellowship, which provides full salary and benefits to study under the guidance of a Ragon faculty member. Fellows pursue research in HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, vaccine development, cancer, and other areas of immunology central to the Ragon's mission.

Funded by the Madrid-based Ramón Areces Foundation, the fellowship supports scientific research by researchers who have studied in Spain. We welcome candidates with backgrounds in virology, immunology, computational and structural biology, engineering, microbiology, and related fields who have completed (or are completing) their PhD, MD, or MD/PhD.

To apply, submit a CV, a one-page statement of purpose identifying your proposed host lab, and a letter of support at https://ragoninstitute.org/ramon-areces-foundation-research-fellowship/

Applications accepted through September 30, 2026.

Harikesh Wong has been named to the 2026 class of the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences, one of 21 early-career scientists selected this year.

A core member of the Ragon Institute and an assistant professor of biology at MIT, Wong studies how the immune system decides when to act, investigating how groups of immune cells reach a "communal decision" about whether to tolerate or attack a given target.

The four-year Pew award will support that work as his lab explores how small shifts in immune control can lead to outcomes as different as clearing a threat, tolerance, autoimmunity, and cancer.

Read More: https://ragoninstitute.org/2026/06/wong-named-2026-pew-scholar-in-the-biomedical-sciences/

Meet Liza Reizis (pronounced Lee-za), a third-year PhD student in the MIT Biology program and member of the Batista Lab here at the Ragon.

Liza spends the workday studying B-cells, but outside the lab their interests are remarkably varied. An avid runner who can often be found on the Somerville bike path or jogging along the Charles River, Liza heads the Ragon Runners, having revived the Institute's run club and created a fun, welcoming space for colleagues to connect and get some fresh air. A self-described fan of everything outdoors, Liza enjoys hiking and has spent time working on remote farms, caring for goats, sheep, horses, even bees!

When asked their favorite part about working at the Ragon, Liza rattled off a short list of little wonders: the patio off the cafe, the endless supply of free Earl Grey, the incredible science (of course), and the people they have met through Ragon Runners. We couldn't be luckier to have people like Liza building our community!

Congratulations to Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, who has been named an inaugural 2026 Mass General Brigham Research Scholar! For the next five years, he will hold the title of the Giammaria and Sabrina Giuliani MGB Research Scholar.

The MGB Research Scholars program is Mass General Brigham's premier awards program for research, providing flexible, unrestricted funding to early- to mid-career investigators pursuing innovative ideas, building on the highly successful MGH Research Scholars program launched in 2011. Gaiha's lab at the Ragon Institute studies how CD8+ T cells control viruses and has used these insights to design novel vaccines currently under clinical investigation.

Ragon faculty member Daniel Lingwood, PhD, was named a 2025 MGH Research Scholar and holds the title of Phillip and Susan Ragon MGH Research Scholar for 2025-2030.

Caroline Mitchell, MD, an associate member of the Ragon, was also named to the 2026 MGB Research Scholars class.

Read more: https://ragoninstitute.org/2026/06/gaurav-gaiha-named-the-2026-giammaria-and-sabrina-giuliani-mgb-research-scholar/

On May 20th, the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard welcomed the board of trustees and senior leadership of the Mexican university Tecnológico de Monterrey as part of a multi-day visit to Boston.

Ragon Institute Director Bruce D Walker, MD, hosted the delegation for conversations on immunology, global health, and the training of early-career scientists, reaffirming a partnership built on the shared conviction that research and education drive progress in Mexico, Latin America, and beyond.

Alison Ringel, PhD, and José Carlos Crispín, MD, PhD, provided an update on joint faculty research on metabolic health in the US and Mexico. And Tecnológico de Monterrey Fellows Aurelio Orta and Felipe Salazar and FEMSA Fellows Jennie Ruelas and Jonathan Padilla shared their experiences of working as postdoctoral researchers at the Ragon.

We look forward to continuing to advance this collaboration in the years ahead.

We are thrilled to share that Facundo Batista, PhD, Scientific and Associate Director of the Ragon Institute, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences and one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific institutions in the world.

Founded in 1660, the Royal Society counts Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Dorothy Hodgkin among its historic Fellows. Facundo joins a 2026 cohort of more than 90 newly elected researchers from around the world.

Congratulations, Dr. Batista, on this remarkable and well-deserved recognition.

Read more about the award here: https://ragoninstitute.org/2026/05/ragon-scientific-director-facundo-batista-phd-elected-fellow-of-the-royal-society/

Kerrie Collette, a senior grants administrator at the Ragon Institute, has received the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Emerging Excellence Award.
The award recognizes Kerrie's development of the Portfolio Workload Index (PWI), a data-driven tool that quantifies the complexity of research administration portfolios using factors like proposal volume, deliverables, budget size, and PI complexity. The PWI has enabled more equitable workload distribution across the Ragon's grant administration team and informed staffing strategy and succession planning.

Learn more about the award: https://www.ncura.edu/MembershipVolunteering/Awards/ncuraemergingexcellenceaward.aspx