Bio
Maria Barna is an Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University. Dr. Barna obtained her B.A. in Anthropology from New York University and her Ph.D. from Cornell University, Weill Graduate School of Medicine. She completed her thesis work in the lab of Dr. Lee Niswander in the Developmental Biology Department at Sloan Kettering Institute in 2007. Dr. Barna was subsequently appointed as a UCSF Fellow through the Sandler Fellows program, which enables exceptionally promising young scientists to establish independent research programs immediately following graduate school. Dr. Barna has received a number of distinctions including being named a Pew Scholar, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, and top ’40 under 40’ by the Cell Journal. She has received the Basil O’ Connor Scholar Research Award and the NIH Directors New Innovator Award. In 2016, she was the recipient of the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award, an award given to two female scientist in the world every three years in the field of genetics, the American Society for Cell Biology Emerging Leader Prize, and the RNA Society Early Career Award. She has also received the inaugural Elizabeth Hay award from the Society of Developmental Biology, the H.W. Mossman Award in Developmental Biology and the Tsuneko and Reiji “Okazaki” Award, among others. She is presently a NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Investigator.
