Findlay Fellowship winner headed to England for graduate degree

The Office of Fellowships is thrilled to announce that Lauren Guerra (WCAS ’25) has been chosen as the 2025 recipient of the Findlay Fellowship! With the fellowship’s support, Lauren will travel to England where she will earn a master’s degree in genomic medicine at the University of Cambridge. Ultimately, Lauren aspires to use her training in genomics to provide personalized care as a physician who accounts for patients’ genetic profiles when they access treatment.

Originally from South Florida, Lauren majored in neuroscience at Northwestern University, where personal experience shaped her academic and research path: both her aunt and cousin were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet their disease progressed in strikingly different ways. Determined to understand the biological basis of this variability, Lauren joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2023. There, she and her mentor identified gene expression patterns associated with the most aggressive form of MS—work that had the potential to enable earlier, more accessible diagnosis using blood-based tests. Lauren returned to the NIH in 2024 to study why certain patients fail to respond to standard MS therapies. Her research analyzed clinical trial data and identified specific pathways associated with treatment resistance. At Cambridge, Lauren will contribute to a joint US–UK clinical trial investigating a novel MS drug while completing advanced coursework in genomic medicine.

Lauren graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society. She was also elected to serve on the American Neurological Association’s Early Career Member Subcommittee and has presented her work at several national neurology conferences. Beyond the classroom and lab, she co-founded Northwestern’s Pre-Surgical Society, a mentorship-based organization that grew to over 100 members in its first year. She has also volunteered for many years at a free clinic serving uninsured and undocumented patients in South Florida. She continued this commitment at Northwestern by serving as campus lead for refugee education programming through Madonna Mission and traveling with NU’s Sheil Catholic Center to the US–Mexico border to learn more about how immigration policy affects healthcare access while assisting asylum seekers.

The Findlay Fellowship provides financial support to a recent Northwestern undergraduate who is pursuing graduate study in the United Kingdom. The fellowship was created through a generous gift from Northwestern trustee Cameron Findlay and his wife, Amy Scalera Findlay.

The Office of Fellowships is saddened to acknowledge Mr. Findlay’s passing on Friday, July 11, 2025. Mr. Findlay graduated first in his class at Northwestern University in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He later earned a master’s degree in political science, philosophy, and economics at New College, Oxford University, as a winner of the Marshall Scholarship. His experience as a Marshall scholar later inspired him to help Northwestern and the Office of Fellowships create the Findlay Fellowship, but he also gave back to the campus community by serving as a Board of Trustees member for over twenty-five years. Read more about Mr. Findlay’s life and legacy.

Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Findlay’s generosity and love of Northwestern, Lauren is the fourth Wildcat to win the Findlay Fellowship. Hannah Christensen (WCAS ’24) won the award last year and attended the University of St. Andrews. Two years ago, Madeline Brown (WCAS ’23) won the award and attended the University of Oxford. Abigail Roston (WCAS ’22) was the first recipient of the award and also studied at the University of Oxford. We are also proud to note that the fellowship will live on as a testament to Mr. Findlay’s commitment to Northwestern and to international educational experiences for the Wildcat community.

Contact Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe at e-pardoe@northwestern.edu to learn more about the Findlay Fellowship.