On Oct. 6, Ph.D. candidate Rasajna Madhusudhana, one of 10 finalists competing from across VCU, was named the winner of VCU's Three-Minute Thesis competition for her presentation on "Exploring Nicotinamidase iInhibition as a Novel Treatment Strategy for Malaria."

She will advance to the regional round at the Council of Southern Graduate Schools Conference in Baton Rouge, La., in February 2026, where she will compete as VCU's representative.

"I participated in 3MT as I thought it was an interesting challenge to communicate my research in simple language and in three minutes," Madhusudhana says. "It was a great learning experience preparing for the competition and watching other participants present, and winning was the icing on the cake!"

Madhusudhana credits the insightful feedback from her advisor, Yana Cen, Ph.D., and other members of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry during the seminars she presented as a first- and second-year graduate student. She had even more practice in the grant writing course taught by Karolina Aberg, Ph.D., where students had three-minute presentations as part of their final evaluation.

"I definitely have to thank Dr. Cen," Madhusudhana says. "She pushed me to just give it a shot even though I was initially hesitant."

Watching last year's winner, Sagun Poudel, who graduated from VCU SoP this summer with a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences with a concentration in pharmaceutics, provided additional inspiration. And, Madhusudhana says, tutoring Pharm.D. students as a teaching assistant has given her practice in explaining concepts and breaking things down to help others learn.

"I have always been passionate about teaching and science communication, and winning 3MT strengthened this interest," Madhusudhana says. "Now that I will be representing VCU, I definitely need to hone my skills. All of this learning will certainly aid in my professional development."

Congratulations on this success, Rasajna, and we will be cheering you on in the next round!