Meet 2026 Award Recipient
Pushkala Jayaraman
Pushkala is a newly appointed Postdoctoral Fellow in the Windreich Department of AI and Human Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. A bioinformatics scientist by training, she entered the PhD program in Biomedical Sciences (AIET) in 2020, bringing nearly a decade of clinical genomics experience. Since then, she has over 25 peer-reviewed publications, including 6 first- and co-first author works. Her doctoral dissertation focused on integrating longitudinal electronic health records with multi-omic data and applying reinforcement learning algorithms to optimize treatment decisions in the ICU, work she continues as a postdoc, now extending it with Causal AI. Looking ahead, she is focused on translational research fellowships as a stepping stone toward an independent faculty role. Beyond research, Pushkala is deeply committed to mentorship and community, as Chair of the AMIA Student Working Group, she advocates for trainees nationally, while at Sinai she has mentored students across high school to PhD level. She is profoundly grateful to her mentors, Drs. Girish Nadkarni and Ankit Sakhuja, and the many wonderful faculty and peers at Sinai who constantly inspire her to reach greater heights. Ultimately, her achievements are shared most deeply with those she loves: her husband Kumar, her children Ananya and Agasthya, and all four of her parents, whose steadfast belief in her has never wavered. Informed by the guidance of her mentors, Pushkala has always operated under the principle that success is reserved for those with the courage to step forward. This perspective has evolved into a personal mantra: 'you will never know what is possible if you don't try' - a philosophy she now carries both as a scientist and a mother.