Katherine Ward, a 2nd year Ph.D. student in Biochemistry, has been awarded a 2-year predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. Katherine works in the laboratory of Robert Stahelin where she studies an enzyme that is a hallmark of inflammation, Cytosolic Phospholipase A2. This enzyme is regulated by a potent sphingolipid, Ceramide-1-Phosphate, which regulates inflammation and atherosclerosis. Katherine’s studies are aimed at solving the structural basis of this interaction to design pharmacological therapies that can improve outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease and stroke.