Jordahl named Gilliam Fellow

Eric Jordahl has been named a 2025 Gilliam Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is one of thirty 2025 fellows. This award will provide Jordahl and his thesis advisor with three years of graduate funding. The program is named in honor of the late HHMI charter trustee, James H. Gilliam, Jr., who was an attorney, businessman and community leader. In addition to financial support, the awardees will have access to networking and professional development opportunities.

Eric Jordahl

Jordahl is a graduate candidate at the University of California, San Diego. He performs research in the laboratory of Soyna Neal, an associate professor of cell and developmental biology at UCSD, studying the role of rhomboid protein RHBDL4 in pancreatic cancer.

“By better understanding how RHBDL4 helps cancer cells to grow better and die less, I can identify new potential targets for anticancer therapeutics,” Jordahl said in a UCSD press release.

He is the mentorship chair for UCSD’s Biology Undergraduate and Master’s Mentorship Program, which supports historically underserved students through mentorship, research and professional development opportunities. Jordahl received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2022. He obtained a B.S. in molecular biology and a B.A. in classics at the University of Pittsburgh.