Negar Omidvari Receives Excellence in Research Award from Academic Federation
Negar Omidvari, an assistant project scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis, has received the Excellence in Research Award from the UC Davis Academic Federation. The award recognizes outstanding contributions from an Academic Federation researcher that grow the university’s research reputation.
Omidvari’s contributions to biomedical research, particularly in the area of total-body positron emission tomography, or PET imaging, have demonstrated remarkable scientific leadership and innovation.
Her groundbreaking work to map the distribution of T-cells throughout the human body using dynamic PET imaging has revolutionized the understanding of immune responses, including in COVID-19 patients. Omidvari was also the first to utilize a CD8-targeted radiotracer in this capacity, a major achievement in imaging infectious disease that continues to generate significant attention within the scientific community.
“Seeing our research recognized among so many outstanding scientific works at UC Davis is incredibly motivating and it inspires me to continue pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the human immune system,” she said. “I’m grateful to be part of an amazing, collaborative team and I look forward to our continued journey toward improving patient care.”
Omidvari first joined UC Davis as a postdoctoral researcher in Distinguished Professor Emeritus Simon Cherry’s lab in 2019. She received her Ph.D. in physics from the Technical University of Munich in 2018 and a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from RWTH Aachen University in 2013.