Kelly Cuenca Awarded NIH NRSA F31 Fellowship

Javier Kelly Cuenca, a graduate student in the Castro Lab, was awarded the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (F31) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The highly competitive, multi-year fellowship recognizes promising graduate students with the potential to become independent research scientists. The award provides support for dissertation research in health-related scientific fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH centers while fostering advanced research training and mentorship.

Kelly Cuenca’s fellowship, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), supports the research project, “Determining the role of mu opioid receptors in orbitofrontal cortex on reward and motivation.” The work aims to advance understanding of the brain mechanisms that influence reward and motivation, with implications for substance use and addiction research.