Alumni News: BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (April 24, 2007) - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Honors Program student Anand Iyer, 21, of Anniston, has won a top fellowship from the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society.

Iyer, a senior biology major, will receive the Maria Leonard Graduate Fellowship. It is the highest award out of 23 national Alpha Lambda Delta awards available. The award comes with a $7,500 stipend.

In addition to being a student in the UAB Honors Program, Iyer also is a student in the UAB Early Medical School Acceptance Program (EMSAP). He has been a research intern in the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center of the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center, under the direction of UAB Professor Patricia Goode, M.D., for a project on urinary incontinence. He plans to attend the University of Alabama School of Medicine following graduation in May.
The fellowship is named for the late Maria Leonard, dean of women at the University of Illinois and founder of Alpha Lambda Delta.

Iyer also has been named as a 2007 Slater Fellow by the Phi Kappa Phi honor society. In awarding the Slater Fellowship, preference is given to the top applicant whose undergraduate field is in the biological sciences. The award is a graduate fellowship that comes with a $5,000 stipend. Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest, largest and most selective honor society for all academic disciplines.

Iyer was a 2003 valedictorian at The Donoho School in Anniston. He is the son of Dr. Sathyan and Sharada Iyer of Anniston.