Running for research
UCLA Health featured URSP alum, Russell Ahmed, as he raises awareness on the importance of critical scientific research by running the ASICS LA Marathon.
“Russell Ahmed will be running his first marathon – the ASICS Los Angeles Marathon – on March 8, one eye on the road in front of him and the other on scientific research that changes lives around the world.
Ahmed, 22, graduated from UCLA in June with a BS in neuroscience. Since his freshman year, he had worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab of , studying the brain’s circuitry and how it is disrupted in psychiatric disorders.
In his senior year, Ahmed was awarded a fellowship under UCLA’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Ahmed was in line to be hired at the lab for a two-year stint before entering an MD-PhD program in 2027, but due to funding freezes he instead worked as an unpaid volunteer for three months. He was then hired by the Wilke lab as a research technician to work with a trainee in UCLA’s in the lab of .
The experience and the hurdles stuck with Ahmed, so when it came time to consider running the LA Marathon, he decided to use the opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of critical scientific research. At the same time, he would raise money for event host The McCourt Foundation, which supports research into the cure of neurological diseases.
Ahmed has set out to raise $675 for the McCourt Foundation and, as part of his efforts, was featured in an post on Giving Tuesday in November.
“I figured fundraising for The McCourt Foundation, while it did not directly address research funding crises here at UCLA, it was a way for me to fight back,” Ahmed said. “It’s just the fact I’m even able to raise awareness even if it doesn’t result in any amount of money. Just spreading awareness that there is lifesaving research, to protect this pursuit to understand diseases and come up with new ways to treat them.””
Read full article by Leo Smith.
