"My PI and PhD mentor Hilal Lashuel has been a constant support during my studies and work in his lab, as well as beyond. He has given me an opportunity to explore fascinating new avenues in science, invent and develop novel bioassays, and has always been a strong proponent for challenging his ideas and those in the field. He has been especially supportive and accommodating to my special needs as a neurodivergent professional person. Getting appropriate conference rooms, flexible work and meeting scheduling, direct communication. And plenty of listening and feedback, both of which are particularly rare in competitive fields like sciences! Really making me feel a part of the team rather than a weirdo and a burden, which has allowed me to approach learning in my own way and deliver excellent work (I have submitted my first patent application!). Hilal has been a strong proponent of community outreach - both to patients of the disease we study, and the wider community. Our lab is always involved in such projects, and he has also been supportive of my independent initiatives, such as podcasting. Further, giving back to community Hilal has been very vocal about mental health in academia, promoting a caring environment for staff and students. He has written extensive very personal accounts of his own struggles, which have been inspiration for many. Hilal and I organize sem-/webinar series with talks on different important aspects of mental health, such as burnout, suicide, healthy work-life balance and more. In my case, Hilal has been especially supportive with regards to the war in Ukraine. As part of my family are Ukrainian, I have been volunteering with refugees arriving to Switzerland. Hilal was more than happy for me to take time and do what was necessary - for myself, my family or refugees. For example attending the lab meeting on Zoom during me helping with orphan children. And all colleagues were over the moon to get a glimpse of the noisy, happy and safe children we hosted in Switzerland :) I think the environment Hilal promotes within the workplace has much more far reaching impacts beyond the lab itself. This is not very typical of academic labs. Speaking for myself, as a budding scientist, under Hilal's mentorship I developed the necessary skills to deliver top class science, and as an autistic person I have gained a wealth of soft skills to navigate the complex environment of academia and biotechnology. And I have never felt I was losing the inquisitive mind about science (always flooding everyone with silly questions), as this has been vehemently supported by Hilal. I have been extremely fortunate to be a part of Hilal's team. I will be always grateful for him showing me how the lab, and really any work environment should be: welcoming, supportive, caring, enthusiastic, exploring. And full of respect for everyone's peculiarities, always."

Nominated by Galina Limorenko, SV STI LMNN, EPFL, Switzerland