Congratulations to Tre’Andice Williams, a graduate student in Marco Hefti, PhD’s research laboratory, on her acceptance to the Iowa Innovation Leadership Fellowship for the 2026–27 term!

Williams' current work is centered on defining a new role for tau, best known for causing dementia in Alzheimer’s disease, as a regulator of gene expression in the cell nucleus, particularly during development, with the long-term goal of contributing to the development of novel, evidence-based treatments that improve patient outcomes and quality of life in early-life hypoxic-ischemic injury. 

The Iowa Innovation Leadership Fellowship is a year-long educational fellowship that introduces fellows to the policies, programs, resources, and factors that influence addressing society’s unmet needs through healthcare innovation. Through the program, the fellows are connected with industry leaders, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs to gain insight from.