Ielyzaveta “Liza” Slarve, a fifth-year PhD candidate in molecular pharmacology and toxicology, has been awarded the 2025–26 Charles and Charlotte Krown Fellowship, the top honor given to graduate students at the USC Mann School.
Slarve is conducting research under the guidance of Bangyan Stiles, the Boyd P. and Elsie D. Welin Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, investigating the molecular mechanism behind liver cancer, a disease that is often diagnosed too late for effective intervention. Currently, she is investigating molecules in the liver that drive cancer development and assessing whether they could become potential therapeutic targets.
In April, Slarve served as first author on a paper in Cellular Signalling about a specific cellular signaling protein, AKT2, that acts as the primary switch that increases the levels of a molecule called osteopontin (OPN) in liver cells. This finding is significant because high OPN levels are often linked to chronic inflammation and the development of liver cancer.
“The Krown Fellowship not only recognized the work that has been done leading up to that point, but also validated the important work moving forward,” Slarve says. “It really inspired me to keep pushing forward with my research—to explore, discover and validate.”
Born in Ukraine to a radiologist father and a nurse mother, Slarve spent part of her childhood in Libya, where her parents provided medical care in underserved communities, before returning to Ukraine.
“My first mentors were my parents,” says Slarve, who came to the U.S. in 2012. “There was a lot of conversation about medicine and health in our household, and that really started to instill my curiosity in science because I did see how much my parents helped patients and how important it was.”
That early exposure, combined with the influence of her grandmother—a pediatrician who immigrated to the U.S. 10 years before Slarve did—shaped Slarve’s decision to pursue biomedical research. Other inspiring mentors are the late Jill Adler-Moore at Cal Poly Pomona, where Slarve completed both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology, and Stiles, who noted Slarve’s commitment to mentoring other students.
“[Slarve] is a patient and effective mentor,” Stiles wrote in her letter of support. “Her enthusiasm and sincerity for science are what make her stand out.”
After getting her PhD, Slarve hopes to undergo postdoctoral training in cancer research. Her ultimate goal, she says, is to contribute to the development of therapeutics in the field of oncology and to improve patient health and quality of life.
“The Krown Fellowship is reserved for the very best of our graduate students,” says Terrence Graham, associate dean for graduate education. “Liza has the qualities we hope to see in all of our graduate students—resilience, perseverance and academic excellence.”
The fellowship is accompanied by a $10,000 award, including a $5,000 allowance for conference travel, materials, equipment and other research expenses.
Slarve and her husband, Matthew Slarve, a postdoctoral scholar working on infectious disease research at Keck School of Medicine of USC, welcomed their son in August 2023, during Slarve’s third year in the PhD program.
“My toddler reminds me that science is not just for discovery but also for making the world a better place for the future generation. He’ll get to benefit from it,” Slarve says.