Immunologist Chrysothemis Brown named a 2025 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Freeman Hrabowski Scholar

(Press-News.org) Immunologist Chrysothemis Brown, MD, PhD, whose research has been shedding light on the development of the early life immune system and its relationship to autoimmunity, allergy, inflammation, and cancer, was among 30 early-career scientists nationwide selected for the 2025 class of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Freeman Hrabowski Scholars.

The prestigious honor supports outstanding basic researchers, including physician-scientists who have strong potential to become leaders in their fields and who have fostered a lab environment in which everyone can thrive.

“I’m honored and grateful to be named a Freeman Hrabowski Scholar,” says Dr. Brown, an assistant attending physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and an assistant member of MSK’s Immuno-Oncology Program. “This support will enable our lab to pursue bold, curiosity-driven research on early life immune development and tolerance, while building an inclusive, collaborative environment to train the next generation of scientists.”

Freeman Hrabowski Scholars are appointed to a five-year term, which is renewable, and receive support that includes a full salary, benefits, a research budget, and scientific equipment. The program also helps develop scholars’ leadership and mentoring skills.

“We are incredibly proud of Dr. Brown’s inclusion in the 2025 class of scholars,” says Joan Massagué, PhD, who recently served as MSK’s Chief Scientific Officer. “This recognition is a testament to Dr. Brown’s groundbreaking work in understanding the intricate balance of immune tolerance and her dedication to developing a positive research environment. This recognition not only highlights her potential to transform the landscape of immunology and immuno-oncology but also underscores the importance of supporting and developing the upcoming generation of scientific leaders.”

Dr. Massagué also notes that the new class of scholars includes two MSK alumna: Corina Amor Vega, MD, PhD, of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a former postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Scott Lowe, PhD; and Elizabeth Wasmuth, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, a former postdoc in the lab of Charles Sawyers, MD.

Dr. Brown did her undergraduate medical training at Oxford University and University College London. She trained in pediatrics in London and obtained her doctorate in immunology. She then joined the lab of Alexander Rudensky, PhD, Chair of the Immunology Program at MSK’s Sloan Kettering Institute, to pursue studies in the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of immune cell fate. There she discovered new immune cell subsets and their transcriptional regulators. She also pioneered single-cell transcriptomic studies of pediatric autoimmune disease and human cancer, uncovering a new type of antigen-presenting cell that promotes tolerance to helpful bacteria in the gut in early life.

Earlier this year, her lab published a study in Science showing how these immune cells play an essential and previously unknown role in suppressing inflammatory responses to food.

“Our research aims to answer longstanding questions in immune tolerance by integrating new insights gained from discoveries of specialized antigen-presenting cells with a rich body of foundational research,” she says. “Our goal is to uncover fundamental mechanisms that could ultimately shape our understanding and treatment of immune-related diseases.”

Dr. Brown has also received several other notable awards including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases New Innovator Award, a Pew Biomedical Scholar Award, a Josie Robertson Young Investigator Award, and a Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize.

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