The J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program has named second-year resident, Lilly Gu, MD, (mentor Jonathan Kaufman, MD) and first-year resident Jillian (Jill) Thompson, MD, (mentor Mehmet Asim Bilen, MD) as the 2025 recipients of the “Stimulating Access to Research in Residency” (StARR) grant. Emory was initially selected to receive the highly competitive StARR award in 2018. The initiative was created by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to address a nationwide shortage of physician-scientists. Igho Ofotokun, MD, and Nadine Rouphael, MD, in the Division of Infectious Diseases, serve as Co-Directors of the program.
Lilly Gu, MD, is passionate about improving the lives of patients through research. “My clinical time has made me a more patient-centric and motivated scientist, and my research time has made me a more evidence-based and rigorous doctor, enabling me to pursue research projects that address gaps in clinical practice.” Her research interests are in multiple myeloma outcomes and cancer immunotherapy. Through the StARR program, she hopes to contribute to the rapidly evolving field of cancer therapeutics. Specifically, Dr. Gu will continue her research on the use of CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of early relapsed multiple myeloma and the quantification of infectious and immune-related toxicities of CAR T-cell therapy.
Dr. Gu plans to continue integrating clinical care and translational research throughout her career, next by pursuing a fellowship in hematology oncology. “Research involves tremendous determination, innovation, and collaboration but can ultimately lead to incredible discoveries that change the landscape of medicine. I am eager to grow my research skills and contribute to the next chapter of advancement in patient care, improving the lives of my patients and paving the way for future generations of physician-scientists.”
Jillian (Jill) Thompson, MD, first discovered her passion for serving cancer patients both at the bedside and through clinical research while working at Duke Cancer Institute within the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy prior to starting medical school. During medical school, she continued to cultivate these interests by engaging in clinical research projects with both bone marrow transplant patients and lung cancer patients, as well as co-founded a clinical research scholarly concentration program aimed at providing medical students with longitudinal training and a structured curriculum in clinical research.
Now as a first-year resident at Emory and StARR R38 recipient, she is highly motivated to not only train to become a well-rounded, compassionate physician, but also an aspiring physician-scientist as she trains under Dr. Mehmet Asim Bilen, MD, of Emory Winship Cancer Institute, while working together to study various immuno-combination therapies in the context of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
“As an aspiring future oncologist, I hope to one day collaborate as an investigator on trials related to novel therapies utilized in cancer treatment, and I’m so grateful for the unique opportunity to receive exceptional individualized mentorship during dedicated research blocks through the StARR program which will prepare me to care for cancer patients in the future as a physician-scientist.”
The StARR program’s approach includes a structured research-training program that offers in-depth training in the fundamentals of clinical and translational research, as well as an Emory R38 specific mentoring program that is tailored to the training needs of resident physicians.
The program’s preceptors have mentoring experience and federally-funded research projects in the program’s target areas, including transmission, prevention, basic and applied immunology and microbiology, end-organ complications, disease management, therapeutics, pharmacology, and vaccinology. Click here to learn more about the StARR program. Information regarding the 2026 StARR program application process will be available soon.
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