How Playing Games May Save People’s Lives
The Growing Use of Gamification in Health Motivates People to Exercise More and Take Other Actions to Improve Their Physical Well-Being
News
Elle Lett Wins Rising Black Scientist Award
LDI Associate Fellow and Perelman School MD Candidate Focuses on the Margins of Health Care
Print:
Elle Lett, PhD, MA, LDI Associate Fellow and MD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, has been named a winner of the CellPress and Cell Signaling Technology’s Rising Black Scientist Award.
Jointly created in 2019 by the scientific journal publisher and scientific services company, the award is designed to spotlight emerging Black scientists, break down barriers, and provide funding support for professional development, according to CellPress’ Academic Advisory Board. Recipients receive $10,000.
This year’s awards were based on contestants’ essays about their experience as Black scientists, their commitment to health equity advocacy, and their community engagement. Two awards are given each year — one for an undergraduate and the other for a postdoctoral scholar. Lett’s winning postdoctoral essay, “Science as a Tool for Justice,” was published in the January issue of Cell.
“Winning this award is of personal and political importance,” said Lett. “Personally, it acknowledges the effort I have put into developing into a thought leader and innovative scientist capable of moving my field forward. Politically, it’s a statement of the importance of the type of science that I do — work that highlights the experiences and power of oppressed populations while developing strategies to mitigate the harms of systemic discrimination.”
A Black transgender woman, Lett holds a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard College, Master’s degrees in Biostatistics and Statistics from Duke University and the Wharton School, respectively, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. The statistician-epidemiologist is also a postdoctoral fellow in statistical epidemiology at the Penn Medicine Palliative and Advanced Illness and Research (PAIR) Center.
More LDI News
LDI Research Helped Shape Pennsylvania’s New Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit
Pa.’s New Bipartisan Tax Credit is Designed to be Simple and Refundable – Reflecting Core Points From Penn LDI Researchers Who Briefed State Leaders
Top Dozen 2025 LDI News Stories
Focusing in on Some of Health Care Policy’s Most Urgent Issues
Impact: LDI Fellows Shaped Public Discussion and Public Policy in 2025
Highlighting 10 Ways LDI Fellows Put Their Research Into Action
10 Noteworthy Research Articles from LDI in 2025
From AI-Powered Public Health Messaging to Stark Divides in Child Wellness and Medicaid Access, LDI Experts Highlight Urgent Problems and Compelling Solutions
How Republicans Could Fashion a Practical Option to Obamacare
An LDI Expert Offers Three Recommendations That Address Core Criticisms of the ACA’s Model