SURA Recognizes Natasha Sheybani with Early Career Scientist Award
Washington, D.C. – The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Natasha Sheybani, Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia (UVA), has been awarded the 2026 Early Career Scientist Award. Each year, this distinction celebrates an emerging scientific leader from a SURA member institution within ten years of completing their terminal degree, selected for exceptional scholarship and contributions to their discipline. Recognized as a Forbes “30 Under 30” and STAT News “Wunderkind,” Sheybani has already advanced the burgeoning field of focused ultrasound therapies and established herself among the next generation of leading biomedical researchers.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Early Independence Award, Sheybani established her lab in late 2021 at UVA in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program between the Schools of Medicine and Engineering. Through this “High-Risk, High-Reward Research” award, Sheybani began her independent research career following an accelerated postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford, just one year after finishing her doctorate at UVA.
“This award celebrates researchers whose early achievements signal exceptional promise and lasting impact,” said SURA President and CEO Dr. Sean Hearne. “Dr. Sheybani has shown a high level of ingenuity and ambition in every aspect of her career.”
In her lab, Sheybani explores how sound waves can be applied to the detection and treatment of aggressive cancers like metastatic breast cancer and brain cancers. While this type of ultrasonic intervention first emerged in mid-twentieth-century neurosurgery, Sheybani’s work has helped redefine its role in cancer therapies. During her doctoral research, she developed a novel treatment approach combining traditional chemotherapy with focused ultrasound to target breast cancer, and her research program continues to build on and expand this pioneering work.
Now, Sheybani’s lab integrates focused ultrasound technology with other approaches to advance biomarker detection, drug delivery, and device development for adult and pediatric cancers. Her approach focuses on every step of the biomedical discovery cycle, encompassing basic science, clinical trials, and patient experience.
“As a lab, we try to stay close to the voices of those who stand to benefit from this work. Our science is guided by the patient experience, and this helps us maintain perspective when we return to the bench,” Sheybani said.
With additional appointments in Neurosurgery and Radiology & Medical Imaging, Sheybani has a breadth of expertise that is further reflected in her interdisciplinary network, spanning the fields of immunology, physics, medicine, and engineering. Leveraging her cross-cutting capabilities, she serves as Research Director of the UVA Focused Ultrasound Immuno-Oncology (FUSION) Center, a pillar of UVA’s trailblazing focused ultrasound enterprise.
Beyond UVA, Sheybani participates in several large-scale partnerships, including the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) and the National Brain Tumor Society. She currently serves as Treasurer of ISTU, founding faculty co-advisor of the ISTU Student Board, and co-chair of the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research’s Council of Early Career Investigators in Imaging.
Sheybani has also secured millions of dollars in research funding from a broad range of public and private sponsors. Recently, she was awarded $5.5 million in federal research funding through the Breast Cancer Research Program’s Era of Hope Scholar Award, which emphasizes effective partnerships and patient community engagement.
“We are in a moment of accelerated growth, with our translational programs advancing toward new clinical trials,” Sheybani noted. “Now, we’re thinking about how to expand our pipeline in other ways — for example, by bringing our discoveries to market for scalable impact and enriching the innovation ecosystem right here in the Commonwealth.”
“First as a graduate student and now as a faculty member, Dr. Sheybani has exhibited prodigious talent and thoughtful scholarship here at the University of Virginia,” shared Dr. Fred Epstein, UVA Associate Vice President for Research and Professor in Biomedical Engineering. “She brings a zeal for scientific discovery to the department, and she genuinely cares about how her research impacts patients.”
Sheybani will be recognized alongside other SURA awardees at the 2026 SURA Annual Members Meeting this September.
As the Early Career Scientist Award recipient, Sheybani exemplifies the emerging scientific leadership within the SURA consortium. Her accomplishments demonstrate how early-career researchers are shaping the future of scientific impact and discovery through bold, collaborative innovation.
Media Contact:
Anna Rader Groves
SURA Senior Advisor, Government Relations and Communications
Email: arader@sura.org
Photos by Jud Froelich (first photo) and Karen Barden (second photo). Used with permission from Dr. Natasha Sheybani.
SURA advances the nation’s scientific enterprise through research operations and workforce solutions in partnership with government agencies, national laboratories, and its member universities.