Schmidt Center PhD Fellow Jiaqi Zhang Presented with Broad’s Stuart L. Schreiber Award in Scientific Excellence

Each year at the Retreat, in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the institute, Broad presents outstanding Broadies with the Broad Institute Excellence and Achievement Awards as well as the Eric S. Lander and Stuart L. Schreiber Awards in Scientific Excellence. This year, the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center is thrilled to announce that Schmidt Center PhD Fellow Jiaqi Zhang was among one of the winners.

The Eric S. Lander and Stuart L. Schreiber Awards in Scientific Excellence were established in 2019 to recognize outstanding scientists at the Broad who demonstrate, first and foremost, scientific excellence, along with exceptional commitment to promoting women in science — either by their own example or through mentoring and supporting women in their scientific careers. They demonstrate true Broadie spirit and show what makes the Broad so special. These rising stars presented their research during the award ceremony, and were recognized with a commemorative scientific excellence award and an accompanying $1,000 prize. They will also participate in a Broad-sponsored leadership development program and will serve on the award selection committee next year.

Jiaqi Zhang began her academic journey at Peking University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in statistics. She is now a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, a researcher in the Schmidt Center within the Uhler Lab at Broad, and co-leader of the Machine Learning subgroup in the Gene Regulation Observatory.

Jiaqi’s research focuses on causal inference and experimental design. She has developed active learning algorithms that enable efficient identification of optimal genetic interventions, which reduces experimental costs and increases precision. Her work has advanced fields such as cancer immunotherapy and cellular reprogramming and has led to numerous first-author publications in top journals. She has proven herself to be an emerging leader in machine learning and computational biology.

A cornerstone of Jiaqi’s contributions has been her work on a large-scale cancer immunotherapy data science challenge last year at the Broad, which attracted more than 1,000 participants globally. She co-designed and analyzed machine learning tasks to identify genetic targets that enhance T-cell efficacy against cancer. Jiaqi is currently in the final stages of preparing a first-author manuscript on the novel perturbations identified through this deep integration of computation and experimental work.

Beyond her scientific contributions, Jiaqi is a dedicated advocate for gender equity in science. She has consistently mentored undergraduate and early-stage graduate students. Her active participation in initiatives like the Women in Data Science Conference and the Rising Star in EECS workshop underscores her dedication to building a supportive and inclusive scientific community, inspiring more women to pursue and excel in STEM fields.

Adapted from an article written by Broad Communications.