Biography

Dr. Sadaf Ghaderzadeh is a translational scientist and NIH TL1 postdoctoral fellow at the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science. She brings a unique background in both wet-lab biomarker discovery and computational modeling, with expertise in miRNA, exosomal profiling, and multi-omics integration. Her research focuses on identifying early molecular biomarkers for diabetic kidney disease (DKD), aiming to translate biological signals—such as miRNAs and exosomal miRNAs—into noninvasive tools for early detection.

As an NIH NCATS AIM-AHEAD Research Fellow, Dr. Ghaderzadeh designed and led the development of interpretable machine learning models—including XGBoost and SHAP—using real-world EHR data from MedStar Health and the NIH N3C Enclave. Her project built predictive tools to assess ICU admission and in-hospital mortality risk in patients with Type 2 Diabetes and SARS-CoV-2 infection, with downstream applications for early DKD risk stratification.

Her long-term goal is to develop clinically meaningful, data-driven tools that enable earlier diagnosis and intervention in kidney disease and related conditions. By integrating molecular biology with AI/ML approaches, she aims to close the gap between discovery and application in precision medicine.

HONORS

• 2025 – Awarded the NIH AIM-AHEAD/NCATS AL/ML Training Program Award, recognizing

• contributions to AI-driven biomedical research

• 2025 – Winner, 3-Minute Thesis Competition, Association for Clinical and Translational Science

• (ACTS) Annual Conference

• 2025 – Awarded First Place (Gold Ribbon) for poster and abstract presentation at ACTS Annual

• Conference

• 2025 – Selected for a Platform Presentation (Top 50 out of over 600 submissions), Translational

• Science 2025, Washington, DC

• 2024 – Mentor’s Choice Award, Biomedical Data Science Innovation Lab (BDSIL), for project

• on Foundation Model & Diabetes Spatial Omics

• 2024 – Third Place, Basic Science Research, Department of Medicine Research Day,

• Georgetown University

• 2024 – First Place (Blue Ribbon) for poster and abstract presentation, ACTS Annual Meeting

• 2023 – Best Instructor and Leader Award, Howard University

LEADERSHIP 

• Co-Chair, Georgetown Postdoctoral Association (GUPDA) | 2023–Present

• Co-Vice Chair, ACTS National Scholars Special Interest Group (SIG) | 2023–Present

• NIH AIM-AHEAD/NCATS Research Fellow | 2025

• Research Panelist, Georgetown Research Committee | 2024–Present

• Teaching Assistant, Howard University | 2017–2023