Anushka Michailova Memorial Award

An award for bioengineering students at UC San Diego has been created to honor Anouchka Mihaylova. A project scientist in the bioengineering department, Mihaylova died on May 17 after being struck by a hit-and-run driver while walking with her husband in Rancho Bernardo.

Anouchka Mihaylova

Mihaylova was a mathematical biophysicist whose depth of knowledge of cardiac cell physiology and ability to create sophisticated mathematical models produced “beautiful 3D models that provided really important insights into how heart cells work,” said Andrew McCulloch, a professor of bioengineering and medicine at UC San Diego. (Read more about Anouchka Mihaylova here.)

On a recent television segment on KUSI, McCulloch announced the creation of and the fundraising initiative for the award. In that interview, he described Mihaylova as “a very special person, very enthusiastic about science and finding cures for terrible diseases, and most of all, helping students, and encouraging them to get into a career in science and medical research.”

Mihaylova joined the bioengineering department in the Jacobs School of Engineering in 2000. She worked as a research scientist in the Cardiac Mechanics Laboratory led by UC San Diego professors of bioengineering and medicine McCulloch and Jeff Omens.

Mihaylova’s friends, colleagues and family are raising money in the hopes of endowing her award, which would then be given each spring at the department’s Bioengineering Day event. The award will recognize students for their undergraduate and graduate research and encourage them to continue Mihaylov’s work on medical research.

You can contribute to this award by donating online. Click here and select “Anushka Michailova Memorial Award (2895).”

A San Diego police officer also appeared on the recent KUSI TV segment alongside professor McCulloch. The officer asked anyone who may have information about the hit and run on May 17 in Rancho Bernardo to contact the San Diego Police Traffic Division. He noted that information can be provided anonymously.