Cynthia Bolovan-Fritts Research Award

Cynthia was born in Miami, received a PhD in Virology from the University of Cincinnati, and completed post-doctoral training at Stanford Medical School in the Mocarski lab.  She was a member of the Weinberger lab (UCSF-Gladstone) for the last 10 years of her career. 

Cynthia loved science (virology and herpesviruses in particular) and discovery above pretty much all else; she dedicated her career, and her life, to studying herpes viruses, and had an encyclopedic knowledge of these viruses.  Exacting in her technique, to Cynthia the science and the lab were what really mattered.  She was a loyal and principled researcher – the glory didn’t concern at all. 

Few people know that in 1994 during her PhD, Cynthia cloned the first mutants of HSV-1 ICP34.5; these mutants went on to become the first approved oncolytic virus therapy (Amgen’s ‘oncovex’) now used to treat late stage Melanoma.  Cynthia never hyped this contribution, despite her claim to precedence. She was one of those unsung heroes.

Over her lifetime, Cynthia supported the preservation of nature and the environment, taking many trips to national parks across the United States with her husband Dan. When walking with Cynthia through San Francisco, one would often have to stop so that she could give money to the homeless.  She also loved music, taught herself to play the guitar, and attended over 50 Grateful Dead concerts. She was a true "dead head” - when Jerry Garcia passed away, Cynthia went to the Pacific Ocean with 5 dozen roses and threw the bouquet into the ocean as a tribute.

Cynthia is remembered as a wonderful colleague and friend who was always willing to go the extra mile to help, regardless of the size of the problem. She was a welcoming, generous, dedicated and beloved mentor to young students of virology. Many of her trainees are now in top PhD and medical training programs around the country, including Harvard, Yale, and Duke.

As well as the impact she has made to so many aspiring and successful scientists, Cynthia’s memory will live on with the awarding each year of this Cynthia Bolovan-Fritts Research Excellence Award at the Bay Area Virus Meeting.

The Bolovan-Fritts Research Excellence award is a monetary prize for young scientists and is generously supported by:

  • Gladstone|UCSF Center for Cell Circuitry

  • Ed Mocarski (Stanford/Emory)

  • Marielle Cavrois (Gilead)

  • Leor Weinberger

Past Winners of the Cynthia Bolovan-Fritts Award:

2019: Pooja Bhardwaj, PhD: Awarded for her collaborative work with System Biosciences Inc. and ONI Nanoimaging titled ‘Surface engineering of exosomes to block HIV infection as a novel antiviral approach’.

2018: ‘Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Lipid Droplets: a New Connection via DGAT1’.