Buck grad student receives $15,000 P.E.O. Scholar Award

Megumi Mori, a Buck Institute graduate student, has received a $15,000 P.E.O. Scholar Award.  The highly competitive, merit-based scholarship is awarded to female doctoral candidates whose careers show promise of making a strong, enduring impact on the future.  P.E.O. is a nonprofit Philanthropic Educational Organization.

Mori is enrolled in the Biology of Aging doctoral program, jointly sponsored by the University of Southern California’s Davis School of Gerontology and the Buck Institute.  It is the nation’s first graduate program focused on studying the aging process. 

“It’s an honor to be selected for the P.E.O. Scholar Award,” Mori said.  “This is such an exciting area of research because there’s much to be discovered about the processes of aging and the ways we might conquer age-related diseases.”  She first became interested in the field when she was a young girl.  Her grandfather was stricken with Parkinson’s disease, and she vowed someday to find a way to help those like him. 

At the Buck, Mori works in the Haghighi Lab, which concentrates on research in the function of the nervous system, with a specialty in Parkinson’s disease.  “Megumi’s research lies at the heart of aging and age-related disease, and she has discovered that changes in the way muscle maintains its protein quality control can influence brain health during aging and disease; an astonishing discovery that highlights how different organs can influence each other as we age,” said Pejmun Haghighi, PhD, a Principal Investigator at the Buck and director of the lab.

Mori was sponsored by P.E.O. California Chapter SS in Novato.  “P.E.O sponsors numerous scholarships for women, and we are always alert for opportunities where we can help someone achieve their educational dreams,” said Pam McCart, who chairs the chapter’s philanthropy committee (and is on the left in the photo above; last year’s chair Pat Ravicz is on the right).  “We were impressed not only by Megumi’s academic achievements, but also by her collaborative style and leadership experiences.  She truly epitomizes the qualities we seek for the P.E.O. Scholar Award.”

Born in Japan, Mori immigrated with her family to Canada when she was ten.  She was graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a B.S. in neuroscience.  While there, she received a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Student Research Award and the McGill University Vladimir J. Elgart Scholarship.   She was awarded a Provost Scholarship to attend USC, and has been doing research in Novato since 2014 as part of the jointly sponsored program.  She will graduate in 2020.

In addition to her academic studies, Mori was vice president of the Graduate Student Society at the Buck; has organized events for teenage girls to encourage them to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers; and has taught high-school and college-level math to people who are incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.     

The P.E.O. Scholar Award has provided more than $26 million dollars in scholarships nationally since it was established in 1991. It is one of the international organization’s six philanthropies and a foundation, which together have given nearly $350 million dollars and helped more than 109,000 women pursue educational goals.

About P.E.O

P.E.O.  (Philanthropic Educational Organization), which celebrates its 150^th anniversary this year, has almost a quarter of a million members in chapters throughout the United States and Canada. It celebrates the advancement of women; educates women through scholarships, grants, awards, and loans as well as stewardship of Cottey College; and motivates women to achieve their highest aspirations.  To learn more about the organization’s educational programs and scholarships, please visit peointernational.org and peocalifornia.org.