CMU Alumni Awards text displayed over a Carnegie Mellon University red tartan background.

10 CMU Alumni Honored for Impact and Achievement

Sarah Gaffen, a 1988 MCS graduate, will receive an Alumni Achieve Award

Heidi Opdyke

During its 125 year history, Carnegie Mellon University has proven what can be accomplished when talented, driven people put their hearts in the work. This year’s 10 Alumni Award honorees embody that legacy of impact and service to others.

Some use their talents to bring a smile to faces around the world or provide them with the tools to craft a better future for their families. Some are studying the foundation of human health or analyzing how complex data is analyzed. Some devote their lives to public service or uniting others to advance a cause. Some reach back to lift up those who follow or help make connections that can change lives. 

“This year is a double celebration — 125 years since CMU’s founding and 75 years of the Alumni Awards — so it’s the perfect time to honor where we’ve been and where we’re headed,” says Joanna D. Lovering, president of the CMU Alumni Association Board. “What a milestone year to cheer on this incredible group of Alumni Award honorees! Their drive, creativity and generosity light the way for every Tartan.” 

Among the nominees is Sarah L. Gaffen.

Image of smiling Sarah Gaffen wearing eyeglasses.

A leader in immunology and cytokine research, Gaffen’s trailblazing work has led to a better understanding of the role that certain cells play in human immunity and inflammation. 

Her research on T cell cytokines, which are proteins that regulate the body’s immune response, led to the discovery that the interleukin-17 (IL-17) cytokine is the central regulator of immune defense against oral thrush, a fungal infection in the mouth.

She is a recognized expert on the IL-17 cytokine family, and her research has made a significant impact in other scientific areas of study, such as oral mucosal immunity and fungal immunity.

Professor Gaffen began her research in 1999 when she held a faculty position at the State University of New York at Buffalo Dental School. While there, she examined how immune cytokines function in AIDS-associated opportunistic infections, setting the stage for her future discoveries.

Her lab has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for nearly 25 years, and she was honored with the prestigious NIH MERIT award in recognition of her work on IL-17 in oral immunity. Together, she and her team have authored more than 150 scientific papers and their findings have been published in journals such as Mucosal Immunology, JEM, Cell Host Microbe, JI and Science Immunology.

In addition to her research, Professor Gaffen is highly involved in peer organizations. She is an honorary Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology, and recently completed a two-year term as president of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society, of which she has been a member for more than 20 years. She is also an accomplished mentor, training many Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows to successful careers in science.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Carnegie Mellon in 1988 and a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994. She is currently a professor of medicine and rheumatology and holds the Gerald P. Rodnan Endowed Chair in the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh.

'Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature.' – Paul Valéry This felt appropriate as someone like me who loves both science and poetry. Speaking personally, my CMU education and experiences not only gave me the arsenal to succeed as a practitioner of science, but the capacity to leverage my skills and experience as a mentor for young scientists and to serve as a leader in the scientific community.

Sarah L. Gaffen