UCLA physiologist Navid Bavi has been named as one of 21 researchers to join the Pew Scholars Program in Biomedical Sciences.
As part of the designation, Bavi and the other scholars will each receive four years of funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts to research new insights into human health and diseases.
The Pew Charitable Trusts said the 2026 class of scholars include “scientists who are harnessing new technology to examine human health and behavior, studying the building blocks of immunity and engineering new methods to treat disease.”
Bavi is an assistant professor of physiology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. His lab studies how membrane proteins such as ion channels, motor proteins and transporter proteins function in human sensory processes.
With the new research funding, Bavi’s lab will study how sensory membrane proteins in specialized cells in the ear boost sound sensitivity.
“Using our bioengineered tools, we will visualize real-time changes in membrane forces from single molecule to tissue — work that could lead to new models for testing therapies for hearing loss and more,” Bavi wrote of his research.
The Pew Biomedical Scholars program provides funding to outstanding, early-career researchers focusing on the advancement of human health.
More information about the Pew Biomedical Scholars program and the awardees can be found online.
