Alia Mallah, a student in the joint UTSA/UT Health San Antonio Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. program is one of the recipients of the Biomedical Engineering Society’s 2020 BMES Career Development Award.

The prestigious award aims to “support travel to the BMES Annual Meeting for Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Early Career Professionals from underrepresented populations in biomedical engineering and/or involved in research and training focused on health disparities and minority health”.

The award, recognizes individuals for their accomplishments, significant contributions and service to the Biomedical Engineering Society and the field of biomedical engineering. Mallah is one of 37 recipients to receive this award. She will receive along with the award, a complementary registration to the annual BMES meeting held virtually this year in October 2020, where she will present an on-demand talk and poster during the meeting.

Mallah is currently in the lab of Dr. Nehal Abu-Lail where she is studying the inflammatory environment associated with osteoarthritis, chondrocyte response to induced inflammation and the tissue engineering of articular cartilage.

Her research also focuses on characterizing the mechanical properties of cells and tissues in healthy and diseased models to lead to a better understanding for strategies for articular cartilage tissue engineering techniques utilizing atomic force microscopy, biochemical assays, scaffolds and cell culture.

Mallah is also the assistant chair of the biomedical engineering graduate student society (BMEGS-SA), whose mission it is to open a place for dialogue between graduate students and offer professional development and social networking events.

“I’m grateful to receive this award and to be a part of such an amazing community,” Mallah said.