Students collaborating in a lab, working in a fume hood.

Dedicated to training future generations of biomedical researchers.

NIAMS has prepared hundreds of trainees for careers in academia, translational biomedical research, industry, government, and other job sectors. With this page, we highlight our trainees and their careers after completing their training in the NIAMS IRP.


Photo of Professor McInnes

Iain B McInnes, CBE, Ph.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.E., F.Med.Sci.

Mentor: Dimitrios Boumpas

Professor Iain McInnes completed postdoctoral studies at the NIAMS as a Clinical Research Fellow in the laboratory of Dimitrios Boumpas (1997-1998), where he focused on immune pathogenesis and psoriatic arthritis. He went on to become a leading figure in rheumatology and arthritis research. In October 2020 he was named Vice Principal and Head of College to the College of Medical, Veterinary, and Life Sciences (MVLS) at the University of Glasgow. He is also President of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), where he heads the association’s leadership team. Professor McInnes was awarded the CBE for services to medicine by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Sir James Black Prize Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his “outstanding contribution to the field of immunology.”


Photo of Dr. Vahedi

Golnaz Vahedi, Ph.D.

  • Arrived at the NIAMS as a Research Fellow.
  • Awarded a Transitional K99 Grant from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for the project: "Super-enhancer structure defines a signature of inflammatory bowel disease."
  • Promoted to Staff Scientist.
  • Transitioned to a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania (Assistant Professor).
Photo of Dr. Vahedi and Dr. O'Shea

Photo of Dr. Ouyang

Claudia Ouyang, Ph.D.

Mentor: Dr. Richard Siegel; Autoimmunity Branch
  • Arrived at the NIAMS as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
  • Awarded the prestigious Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant from the Cancer Research Institute, 2015.
  • Transitioned to position of Scientist, Immuno-oncology, Intrexon Corporation.

Photo of Dr. Dutka

Tara Dutka, Ph.D.

Mentor: Dr. Markus Hafner; RNA Molecular Biology Group
  • Arrived at the NIAMS as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
  • Transitioned to position of Program Officer, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (contract position with Kelly Government Solutions).

Photo of Dr. Shwin

Kyawt Win Shwin, M.D.

Mentor: 
  • Arrived at the NIH as a 2013 Entering Rheumatology Fellow.
  • Winner of Blue Ribbon Award for poster titled, "Histopathologic and Immunologic Features of Skin Manifestations in Monogenic Autoinflammatory Disorders," at the 14th Annual Rheumatology Forum.
  • Transitioned to position of Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatic Diseases, Dallas VA Medical Center/UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Photo of Dr. Poholek

Amanda Poholek, Ph.D.

  • Arrived at the NIAMS as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
  • Awarded a highly-competitive PRAT Fellowship from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).
  • Transitioned to position of Research Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Photo of Dr. Bible

Paul Bible, Ph.D.

Mentor: Dr. Maria Morasso; Laboratory of Skin Biology
  • First arrived at the NIAMS as a Summer Bioinformatics Intern analyzing NGS data.
  • After completing graduate studies, returned to the NIAMS as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
  • Developed the Peak Assignment and Pattern Search Tool (PAPST) for analyzing ChIP-Seq Data.
  • Transitioned to Research Faculty, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

Photo of Iglesias-Bartolome

Ramiro Iglesias-Bartolome, Ph.D.

Mentor: Dr. Maria Morasso; Developmental Skin Biology Section
  • Arrived at the NIAMS as a Research Fellow.
  • Selected as an NIH Stadtman Investigator, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Photo of Dr. Kieffer-Kwon

Philippe Kieffer-Kwon, Ph.D.

Mentor: Dr. Rafael Casellas; Laboratory of Lymphocyte Nuclear Biology
  • Arrived at the NIAMS as a Research Fellow.
  • Transitioned to position of Senior Scientist in Genome Editing, Intrexon Corporation.
Last Updated: