January 14, 2019 | Karin Whiting Burgess - School of Pharmacy

Shreya Kulkarni, Ph.D. candidate, awarded Baxter Young Investigator Award

Shreya Kulkarni, a multi award winning* Ph.D. candidate in the School of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, recently received Baxter Pharmaceutical’s Young Investigator Award in Deerfield, Illinois at Baxter International’s headquarters. Kulkarni presented her research Factors Governing the Reconstitution Time of Highly Concentrated Lypophilized Protein Formulations at the awards presentation, accompanied by her advisor Robin Bogner, Professor, […]

Shreya Kulkarni receives Baxter's Young Investigator award

Shreya Kulkarni accepts a 2018 Baxter Young Investigator Award from Dr. Mahesh Chaubal, Vice President, Research and Development at Baxter International

Shreya Kulkarni, a multi award winning* Ph.D. candidate in the School of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, recently received Baxter Pharmaceutical’s Young Investigator Award in Deerfield, Illinois at Baxter International’s headquarters. Kulkarni presented her research Factors Governing the Reconstitution Time of Highly Concentrated Lypophilized Protein Formulations at the awards presentation, accompanied by her advisor Robin Bogner, Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Baxter’s prestigious award is not limited to a specific area of research, so the competition is broad, open to both graduate students and post docs. Winners are selected in part due to a match of their research with the interests of the company. There are only six tier 1 awards, such as the one Kulkarni received, given out annually. Last year, Rui Fang, a graduate of the School of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutics program, now working at Merck, received a Tier 2 Baxter Young Investigator Award.

Shreya Kulkarni
Shreya Kulkarni, fourth in from right, stands with her Baxter Young Investigator award.

“I am happy and excited to receive the Baxter Young Investigator Award for my thesis research on ‘Reconstitution of high concentration lyophilized protein formulations’ says Kulkarni. “It is a great honor to receive this highly competitive award. None of this would have been possible without the continued support and guidance from my advisor Professor Robin Bogner. Dr. Bogner has been instrumental in motivating me to delve deeper into every research problem. I would also like to thank my thesis committee and our collaborators for the helpful discussions and suggestions on my thesis research. I feel very lucky to be part of the Pharmaceutics program at UConn!”

Regarding the trip to Illinois, she says “The award ceremony at the corporate headquarters of Baxter in Illinois was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed interacting with the fellow award winners and learning about their research.”

*Kulkarni is the 2017 recipient of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists graduate student award in Manufacturing Science and Engineering, the International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council graduate student research award, and American Association of Indian Pharmaceutical Scientists  graduate student research award.